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ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


\f 3 
BY THE REV. JAMES SHERMAN; 


MINISTER OF CASTLE STREET CHAPEL, READING.» 
—_—_———— 


Blebenth Barttton. 


LONDON: 


JAMES NISBET, BERNERS STREET} 
FISHER, SON, & JACKSON, NEWGATE STREET. 


—_—_—_— 


1832. 


LT 
London: Printed by H. Fisher, Son, and P. Jackson. 


PREFACE, 


—_»—___- 


Tue substance of the following treatise was 
delivered in three short discourses to my con- 
gregation, at the commencement of an afflic- 
tion, which, for seven months, has incapacitated 
me for pulpit duties. Many persons expressed 
their conviction, that the Lord had accompanied 
them with a salutary power to their minds; and 
requested their publication, for their own and 
others’ advantage. With considerable reluc- 
tance I consented to appear thus in print; not 
from any disinclination to gratify them, nor that 
I considered the subject unimportant; but be- 
cause I felt utterly unable to do it justice. This 
objection was overruled by some, to whose judg- 
ment I am accustomed to pay deference, and I 
have ventured, with much trembling, to send 
them forth into the world in their present form; 
hoping, with my friends, that they may turn 
sinners from the power of Satan unto God. 

As the work was prepared principally for the 
use of my own people, they will, I trust, receive 
it as a testimony of my warm attachment to their 


1V PREFACE. 


best interests, and of my growing desire that 
they, like the primitive disciples, may continu- 
ally walk ‘‘in the fear of the Lord, and in the 
comforts of the Holy Ghost.” My pastoral la- 
bours among them are now suspended, and I 
cannot publicly inculcate the important truths 
of which it treats; but it will comfort me in my 
affliction, if this, as my representative, guides, 
advises, and consoles them in happy and holy 
walking. 

To literary fame I do not aspire; usefulness 
alone I covet. I am persuaded that wise and 
good men will discover many imperfections in 
the work; but if the Lord glorify himself through 
this feeble effort, by introducing sinners to his 
acquaintance, and by leading babes in grace to 
press after higher attainments in the divine life, 
and professors of the gospel to walk more con- 
sistently with their high and holy calling;— 
what becomes of my name, will be of small im- 
portance. 

J, SHERMAN. 


Cuirron, Oct. 20th, 1826. 


ADVERTISEMENT TO THE 


FOURTH EDITION. 


Waite the Author is deeply sensible that the success 
and usefulness of any Work depend entirely on the 
favour and blessing of God, he cannot but be unfeign- 
edly grateful to the Father of mercies, for the appro- 
bation already bestowed on this humble production, in 
the rapid sale of three Editions, which has far ex- 
ceeded his most sanguine expectations. In sending 
forth this fourth Edition, he desires to express his 
obligations to his friends, and the public, for the very 
favourable reception with which his Work has been 
honoured, and to entreat the aid of their prayers that, 
while, like a handful of seed, it is cast into the fieid 
of the world, though sown in weakness, it may be 
raised in power, and bring forth much fruit unto 


God. 


Reading, Aug. 5th, 1829. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


CERT ER Lote cot ieagel hic seh sue wou eleterate Pate 


CHAPTER II. 


ON THE NATURE OF ACQUAINTANCE WITHGOD. - 14 


CHAPTER III. 
ON THE ESSENTIAL MEANS OF ACQUAINTANCE 


WITH. GOD. cle co ato wc. gieiie- o§e Ops © O ee 20 


CHAPTER IV. 
ON THE SUBORDINATE MEANS OF ACQUAINTANCE 


Wi GOD op ehete ere ts «e 6 € eo oS) 88) qi egsY 68 


CHAPTER V. 
THE BEST SEASON FOR COMMENCING ACQUAINT~- 


WINCE WITH GOD . sc cielhjpere soe eee ce 108 


CHAPTER VI. 


ON THE ADVANTAGES OF ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD 133 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


Jos xxi. 21. 
ACQUAINT NOW THYSELF WITH GOD, AND BE 
AT PEACE, THEREBY GOOD SHALL COME 
UNTO THEE. 


CHAPTER I. 


Tu1s advice was worthy of an advocate for 
God, and suited to Job under any circum- 
stances, though it is evident that Eliphaz mis- 
understood his case. In the previous verses 
he had accused him of great guilt, “Is not 
thy wickedness great, and thine iniquities 
infinite? For thou hast taken a pledge from 
thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked 
of their clothing. Therefore snares are round 
about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee ;’* 
thus supposing the whole of his trials to be the 


a Job 22, 5, 6, 10, 


8 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


reward of impiety Now, although he was 
mistaken in Job, the advice is adapted to the 
character he supposed him to be. If you are 
a wicked man, whose life, like that of the 
pagan Romans, has been employed in adding 
“iniquity unto iniquity,’? and thereby “ trea- 
suring up to yourself wrath against the day of 
wrath; or if at this moment you are suffer- 
ing, in your body and estate, the wages of sin, 
in pains, and poverty, and privations; be it 
known unto you, that “to you is the word of 
this salvation sent.”4 It pomts you to an 
object infinitely worthy of your highest love, 
to the only remedy for your fallen condition ; 
and promises you that tranquillity of mind, 
and satisfying felicity, which you have, in vain, 
sought in the world. Could we persuade you 
to make trial of this remedy, as you have done, 
unsolicited, of the lying vanities which have 
reduced you to your present lamentable state, 
you would find that it is a catholicon of ines- 
timable worth, and promises no more than it 
actually imparts to all who attend to its di- 


rections. 


b Rom. 6. 19.—c Rom. 2.5.—d Acts 13. 27. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 9 


The apostle declares of wicked men, that 
“they do not like to retatx God in their know- 
ledge.’ A few thoughts of him will occasion- 
ally force their way into the mind, but they do 
not like to retain them. They consider them 
at best but intruders, unwelcome guests; and 
they are glad when they depart, and the door 
of the heart is once more closed against them. 
And oh! it is sadly to be regretted, that many 
who profess his name, though they like to 
retain him in their thoughts, yet are so much 
engrossed with the world and worldly things, 
that they are almost strangers to that constant 
heavenly communion which it is their happy 
privilege and bounden duty to cultivate. It is 
not merely therefore to the wicked man, whose 
heart is in the world and the world in his 
heart, that this exhortation is addressed: but 
to the beloved children of God, to the blood- 
bought sons of his own family, to those who 
have already begun to walkewith God. It is 
adapted to encourage and stimulate ¢hem to 
press forward to the attainment of that object 
for which they have been “apprehended of 


e Rom. 1, 28. 


10 - ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


Christ Jesus,”* by giving the strongest possible 
pledge that, through the favour he bears unto 
his people, they shall see the good of his 
chosen,-—rejoice in the gladness of his nation, 
—and glory with his inheritance. “The fool 
hath said in his heart, There is no God.”® Not that 
he disbelieves the existence of God, but would 
fain persuade himself he is not the God which 
the bible represents him to be; he thinks him 
altogether such an one as himself, and wishes 


that he did not exist. And is not this title 
almost as appropriate to us, who not only 
acknowledge there is a God, but have the 
unspeakable felicity to call him our God, who 
know that his presence constitutes the highest 
bliss, yet are in too great a measure indifferent 
to his society, and only admit this supreme 
and condescending Lord as an_ occasional 
visitor? If Jesus said to the disciples, “O 
fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the 
prophets have spéken,? how much more may 
he now apply these epithets to us, who, in the 
full blaze of gospel light, with the whole canon 
of scripture complete, with the exceeding great 


f Phil. 3. 12.—g Ps. 106. 5.—h Ps. 53. 1.—i Luke 24, 15, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. ll 


and precious promises of spiritual wealth and 
happiness, and with an experience of the 
“great reward there is in keeping his com- 


mandments,”) yet neglect, or act as if we dis- 
believed, the blessedness of his society ? 

The advice is applicable especially to those 
who are hesitating whether they are not 
sacrificing too much for Christ, and whe- 
ther they may not unite the pleasurable follies 
and maxims of the world with decision on the 
Lord’s side ;—who have already. gone some few 
steps backward ;—who do not feel that heavenly 
relish for divine things which engaged their 
souls some few months since;—who see less 
strongly the necessity of cleaving to the Lord 
with full purpose of heart, of diligent persever- 
ance in his ways, and of unreserved devotedness 
to him, as their Lord, their Jife, their all. This 
should be considered as an exhortation from 
the lips of him from whom they have revolted, 
to bring them back again to the original foun- 
tain of their bliss, their first husband; to revive 
their first love to him, by resuscitating its wither- 
ing roots with his own; and to convey an assur- 


j Ps. 19. 11. 


12 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


ance that, to whatever sources they may go, for 
spiritual delights, “ their delectable things shall 
not profit,”* since the supreme good they seek 
is to be found only in perpetual friendship with 
the Lord of life and glory. 

The design of the following treatise is to stir 
up your heart, dear reader, to remember this 
much neglected, because too little prized privi- 
lege, and to bring down a present portion of 
that heaven into your spirit, which you hope 
finally to enjoy. Ask of God to bless it for this 
purpose. Before you read one page more, 
entreat that unction from above, by which you 
may understand the things which shall make 
for your peace. He can bless this feeble effort 
to remove the clouds from your mind, to dis- 
cover how he loves you, and will bless you, 
that you may rejoice before him all the days 
of your life. 

The following chapters will explain to you 
the nature of that acquaintance which.is urged 
upon you; the means by which it may be at- 
tained; the best season for commencing it; 
and the advantages you will gain by it. And 


k Jsa. 42. 9. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 13 


oh! may that blessed and holy Spirit, the Lord 
and giver of life, put energy into these words; 
shed a divine light on your understanding to 
receive them; and so direct your heart by them 
into the love of God in Christ Jesus, that you, 
like Abraham, may henceforth be called “the 
friend of God,” and “reckon yourself dead in- 
deed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord.” 


1 James 2. 23.—m Rom. 6. 11. 


14 


CHAPTER I. 


ON THE NATURE OF ACQUAINTANCE WITH 
GOD. 


Tue word ‘acquaintance,’ signifies not a mere 
knowledge of a person’s face, as by seeing him 
occasionally pass, or meeting him as a stranger 
at a friend’s house, but that intimacy which 
subsists between one friend and another. The 
term is used in scripture to express the famili- 
arity of friendship: “thou, a man, mine equal, 
my guide, mine acquaintance; we took sweet 
counsel together, and walked to the house of 
God in company." It universally refers to 
persons of whom we know more than of men in 
general, and with whom we have more habitual 
converse. Thus David, in the psalm he com- 
posed for the regulation of his conduct to his 
household, declares, “I will not know a wicked 
person ;”° I will not acquaint myself with him, 
he shall not be a servant to execute my com- 
mands, nor a friend in whom to lodge the 


n Ps. 55, 13.—o Pa. 101, 4. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 15 


secrets of my heart: “mine eyes shall be upon 
the faithful of the land, that they may dwell 
with me; he that walketh in a perfect way, he 
shall serve me.” <A cold speculative know- 
ledge of Christ may give us some idea of his 
character, and some perception of his works; 
but it leaves the mind uninfluenced, unexcited 
to heavenly things, without an impulse to love, 
serve, and enjoy him. Satan knows him well; 
but hates him the more. He believes, and 
trembles. It is no uncommon thing to see per- 
sons, whose education, as far as we can judge of 
it, has been perfectly consistent; whose parents 
have taken delight to train them up “in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord,’P whose 
knowledge of the gospel is extensive and cor- 
rect; who nevertheless live in open rebellion 
against their consciences, or in entire indiffer- 
ence to fellowship with the Father, and with 
his Son. They study his character in the gos- 
pel, as many study a science, not for any prac- 
tical purpose, but because it forms part of their 
education, which without this would be incom- 
plete. It is however of no farther use to them, 


Eph. 6. 4. 


16 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


than to enable them to combat its opponents, or 
to feed the vanity and pride of their hearts. 

But how different are the feelings of those, 
who are engaged in acquainting themselves with 
a subject from which they expect to derive any 
material benefit or pleasure! How eagerly de 
they study any bock which contains informa- 
tion! How do they delight in the society of 
men learned in that branch of knowledge! 
What days and nights do they spend in toil, 
what sacrifices do they make, what ardour do 
they manifest. And shall the object of pursuit 
mentioned in our text be treated with luke- 
warmness? It urges to an acquaintance with 
Gop; an acquaintance which springs from 
love; which will tend to invaluable practical 
results; which will afford unspeakable delight, 
and give great glory to his name ;—an acquaint- 
ance which is to be sought with diligence and 
fervour, as that in which the very life and well- 
being, the present and eternal happiness of the 
soul, consists. 

The object of this acquaintance, is the ever 
blessed God; with whom no science, or creature 
of the most beautiful form, or heavenly endow- 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH Gob. 17 


ments, is worthy of comparison. It pertains to 
the highest dignity of our nature to know our 
great Original, from whom we derived our all, 
and it must be a part of our highest happiness 
to serve and adore him. He has given us ca- 
pacities and desires which nothing but himself 
can satisfy. Creation cannot do this, with all 
the variety of its objects; riches, honours, 
friends, comforts, pleasures, content not the 
mind, They leave a void, and contain an alloy, 
which, in their highest enjoyment, generate dis- 
satisfaction. They were intended only as guides 
to lead us to God. There is a supreme good 
wanting, a fountain of eternal excellency, from 
which the soul may be ever drawing without 
fear; solacing itself in purity, love, light, truth, 
the elements of its primeval happiness, to which 
it must return before bliss will return to it. 
And where can this supreme good be found, 
but in the infinite fulness, and unsullied glory, 
of the Almighty God? An acquaintance with 
such an object is worthy of the highest intellect 
and the most splendid gifts. Reason may here 
find its legitimate employment, in contemplat- 
ing and adoring his perfections. God, reveal- 
B2 


18 . ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


ing his glories in the person of Christ, is suffi- 
cient for the soul’s eternal entertainment. Love 
may spend itself here without fear of excess, or 
of evil consequences. He will never deceive 
us; our love shall be returned to us in ful! 
measure, pressed down, and running over, 
Pleasure, unutterable pleasure, may be had in 
God, our exceeding joy. All prospects of de- 
light, and fountains of life, spring up in him. 
The river of his pleasures continually flows to 
his children ; the banquet of his love is always 
spread: the welcome always cordial; himself 
always present; and “in his presence there is 
fulness of joy, at his right hand there are plea- 
sures for evermore.”4 ‘Therefore thus saith 
the Lord, Let not the rich man glory in his 
riches, let not the wise man glory in his wis- 
dom, neither let the mighty man glory in his 
might; but let him that glorieth glory in this, 
that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I 
am the Lord, which exercise loving-kindness, 
judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, for 
in these things do I delight, saith the Lord.” 
Who then would not be honoured by such inti- 


q Ps. 16. 11.—r Jer. 9. 23, 24. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 19 


macy? How far, how very far, are we from 
such a life; and how little energy is put forth 
for its attainment! Is there not a lamentable 
disposition in our hearts to put off that best of 
friends, and sweetest of society, with a very 
slight acquaintance; and to understand the be- 
nefit of heavenly, spiritual communion, more by 
the lives of eminently holy men, than by our 
own experience? Certainly the fault is not in 
him. He has prepared a heaven on earth for 
us, if we will enjoy it; a river that shall always 
“make glad the city of God,”* if we are not 
too sensual to drink of its exhilarating waters. 
Come then, my beloved, “awake to righteous- 
ness, and sin not.” Let the time past suffice, 
wherein you have wrought the will of Satan. 
Stir up your heart to a consideration of those 
means by which this acquaintance may be com- 
menced, or promoted; and “the God of peace 
shall be with you." 


s Ps. 46. 4.—t 1 Cor. 15. 34.—u Phil. 4. 9. 


20 


CHAPTER III. 


ON THE ESSENTIAL MEANS OF ACQUAINT= 
ANCE WITH GOD. 


BEFORE you proceed to any subordinate me- 
thods of forming and maintaining this ac- 
quaintance, there are two fundamental truths 
which must be deeply fixed in your mind, and 
continually remembered. 

The first is this, 

«THAT ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD MUST 
BE COMMENCED AND CARRIEDON THROUGH 
THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST.” 

Your acquaintance is to be with God in 
Christ. It is true, that in the works of creation, 
his existence and glory are manifested, and 
some acquaintance may be gained through 
them. His invisible power and Godhead are 
so clearly reflected from the works which he 
has made, and visible in them, that his eter- 
nal and underived existence, his omnipotence, 
and other perfections, must be known from 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. ya 


the beauty, excellency, variety, and immensity 
of his creatures, by all intelligent beings; ex- 
cept as their minds are debased and alienated 
from him by sin. “For that which may be 
known of God is manifest in them; for God 
hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible 
things of him from the creation of the world 
are clearly seen, being understood by the things 
that are made, even his eternal power and 
Godhead.”* But all the knowledge we can 
attain of God’s perfections, works, or glory, 
which will tend to our salvation, is only 
through Christ. The following passages con- 
firm this important truth: ‘“ No man hath seen 
God at any time; the only begotten Son, which 
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared 
him.”’—If ye had known me, ye should have 
known my Father also; and from henceforth 
ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith 
unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it 
sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I 
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou 
not known me, Philip? He that hath seen 
me, hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou 


u Rom. 1. 20.--v John 1. 18, 


22 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not 
that Iam in the Father, and the Father in 
me?”’¥—For in him dwelleth all the fulness of 
the Godhead bodily.”* | 

In u1m all his perfections most illustriously 
Shine. Hence we read of “ The Love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ That he 
might shew the exceeding riches of his GRACE, 
in his kindness towards us, through Christ 
Jesus. The exceeding greatness of his 
POWER, according to the working of his mighty 
power, which he wrought in Christ, when he 
raised him from the dead.* To give us the 
light of the knowledge of the GLtory of God 
in the face of Jesus Christ.” 

There is an intimate and indissoluble union 
between the Father and the Son. « Thou, 
Father, art in me, and I in thee.”° We cannot 
know, love, hate, or serve, the one, without the 
same dispositions towards the other. “Our 
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Sor 
Jesus Christ.4 He that hateth me, hateth my 
Father also.¢ That all men should honour the 

w John 14.8, 11.—x Col. 2. 9.—y Rom. 8. 39.—z Ephes. 2 7. 


—a Eph. 1. 19, 20,—b 2 Cor. 4. 6.—c John 17. 21.—d 1 John 1. 3. 
=e Joho 15. 23. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 23 


Son, even as they honour the Father.‘ If ye had 
known me, ye should have known my Father 
also. The knowledge of God, and of Jesus 
Christ our Lord.’’* If we love Christ, the Father 
loves us, and will make his abode with us;i if 
we despise Christ, we despise him that sent him, 
and shall be lightly esteemed by him.j 

If, therefore, we are seeking an acquaintance 
with God, this truth must be acted upon, that 
Jesus Christ is God’s established medium of 
communication with us. No audience of the 
Majesty of heaven can be obtained, but through 
him. ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; 
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”« 
And the reason is this: Sin was, and is still, a 
fearful obstacle to acquaintance with God. 
This broke the original friendship, and placed 
man at enmity with his Maker. And therefore 
he says to you this day, The fault is not in 
me; I never sent you away from my presence, 
with a ‘‘ get thee hence,” but “ your iniquities 
have separated between you and your God, 
and your sins have hid his face from you.”! 


f John 5, 23.—g John 8. 19.—h 2 Pet. 1. 2.~i John 14. 23.—j Luke 
10.15, 16.—k John 14. 6.—) Isa. 59. 2 


24 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD.’ 


Now till sm 1s renounced, and reconciliation 
effected, no friendship can exist. And_ this 
must be done on the most honourable terms. 
The claims of justice must not be sacrificed at 
the shrine of mercy. God must be just while 
merciful, equitable while compassionate. His 
honour will not allow him to befriend the sin- 
ner, without receiving satisfaction for his 
offences. 

With what rapture then should we contem- 
plate the fact, that he has devised a scheme 
whereby all this has been effected! He has 
laid help upon one that is mighty. He has 
exalted one chosen out of the people, his elect, 
in whom his soul delighteth. Now he, as the 
covenant head of the church, loved it, became 
its surety, and gave himself for it, that he 
might redeem it from all iniquity. The Father 
transferred its guilt to him, and “ made him, 
who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we 
might be made the righteousness of God’ in 
him ;”" and thus reconciled us to himself, by 
Jesus Christ. 

There is therefore no way of commencing 


m 2 Cor. §. 21. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 25 


this acquaintance, but by the cross of Christ. 
Vows, and penances, and promises of amend- 
ment, are not sufficient. Satisfaction to divine 
justice, and cordiality to the sinner, meet only 
in the cross. They blend their rays, as the 
colours of the rainbow, and form a halo of 
glory round that celesiial spot. The cross is 
the centre of all God’s purposes of mercy to 
fallen man, around which they shine with so 
resplendent a lustre, that they eclipse all other 
systems intended to lighten man into the secret 
place of the Almighty. If you therefore sin- 
cerely desire to be a friend of God, and to live 
habitually in his favour, Christ’s atonement 
must be the basis upon which your hopes are 
raised. He causes all his love to settle on his 
Son, and your’s must fix on him also. He is 
well pleased with the work of his Son, and you 
must be satisfied in it too. He has depended 
on the pledge of his Son, and he will have you 
depend on it also; for “him hath he set forth 
for a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to 
declare his righteousness for the remission of 
sins that are past, through the forbearance of 
God; to declare, I say, at this time his right- 
c 


26 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


eousness, that he might be just, and the justi- 
fier of him that believeth in Jesus.”" He has 
set him forth as the brazen serpent was ex- 
hibited by Moses, that you might behold his 
virtues, and, looking on him, live. 

Disdain not this method of love. Any thing 
put in competition with him will be ruinous to 
your soul. He cannot allow the most splendid 
sacrifices to compensate for faith in his Son. 
“‘This is his commandment, that we should be- 
lieve on the name of his son Jesus Christ;”° the 
first and great commandment of the gospel, 
which indeed includes every other. To rely 
on the observance of any other while this is 
despised, is but to offer an insult to his wisdom 
and authority. Certainly we should not 
account that man our friend, or wish him to 
be familiar with us, who, in spite of all insti- 
tuted decorum and our repeated entreaties, 
attempted to scale our wall and climb im at 
the window, rather than enter in by the door. 
And what is your conduct, but a neglect of 
Christ, “the door” by which all who are 
received into our Father’s house as his children 


vp Rom. 5. 25, 26.—o0 1 John 3. 23. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 27 


must enter in; while you, like a thief and a 
robber, climb up some other way?? How can 
you hope for the friendship of God, upon prin- 
ciples so opposite to his revealed will? Be not 
deceived either by the delusions of Satan, the 
antiscriptural opinions of false teachers, or the 
pride of your own hearts. God will not be 
mocked. ‘“ He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life; and he that believeth not 
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of 
God abideth on him.”4 This is his command, 
10 beloved, and this is his promise: “ Believe 
‘on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved, and thy house.” 

This little work may now be in the hands of 
one who still thinks that something must be 
added to the perfect work of Jesus; that some- 
thing recommendatory in himself, is essential to 
this blessed acquaintance. Is this your condi- 
tion, beloved reader? Do you ask in: since- 
rity, ‘‘ Wherewith shall I come before the 
Lord, and bow myself before the high God ?” 
What can I bring to commend myself to his 
notice? ‘Shall I come before him with burnt- 


p John 10. 9.—q John 3. 36.—r Acts 16. 31. 


28 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the 
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or 
with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I 
give my first-born for my transgression, the 
fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?”s 
God shall give you an answer of peace; for 
“if any man will do his will, he shall know of 
the doctrine whether it be of God.”* “He hath 
shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what 
doth the Lord require of thee? but to do 
justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with thy God.” He has required satisfaction 
for thy offences of another, even of Jesus, his 
dear Son; and he gave it, and that work is for 
ever finished. Of it he has testified his appro- 
bation in raising him from the dead, and set- 
ting him at his own right hand in the heavenly 
places. There is therefore now no more sacri- 
fice for sins. He does not ask any propitiation 
of you. All the wonderful and gracious work 
of constituting a sinner righteous in his sizht, 
belongs to God, and to God alone. Let me call 
your attention to that full description which 
the apostle gives of the nature of the righte- 


s Mic, 6. 6, 7, 8.—t John 7. 17, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 29 


ousness required, and the manner in which you 
are to possess it. ‘‘ Now the righteousness of 
God without the law is manifested, being wit- 
nessed by the law and the prophets; even the 
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus 
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe ; 
for there is no difference.”* The righteousness 
in which you must come before him is empha- 
tically styled, “rue RIGHTEOUSNESS OF 
Gov.” This righteousness, accomplished by 
the death of his dear Son, was devised by him 
for his own honour. It is perfect and ever- 
lasting. It sprang from the overflowing ful- 
ness of his marvellous grace, and to the eternal 
glory of that grace it shall redound. This 
righteousness is also ‘WITHOUT THE LAW:” 
It is wholly evangelical in its character, and 
perfectly distinct from a legal righteousness, in 
which many boast and put their trust. It 
admits not of any additional excellency from 
man; not even of faith, repentance, or good 
works of any kind. These are fruits arising 
from a justified state, but not the cause of our 
justification before God; for faith and repent- 


u Rom, 3. 21, 22, 


ray 


oO ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


ance are as much the gifts of God as justifi- 
cation itself. ‘Moses describeth the righte- 
ousness which is of the law, that the man 
which doeth these things shall live by them. 
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh 
on this wise: Say not in thine heart, Who shall 
ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ 
down from above :) Or, who shall descend into 
the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again 
from the dead.”)¥ No; there is no necessity 
for Christ’s appearing again, to introduce an- 
other righteousness: the work is already done. 
He brought in “an everlasting righteousness,”¥ 
It cannot be rendered more complete by any 
man or angel; and “therefore by the deeds of 
the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his 
sight."* The apostle further declares this 
righteousness of God “1s MANIFESTED :” The 
gospel brings it into open day-light, and ex- 
hibits it as its principal subject and glory. 
“Tam not ashamed (said Paul) of the gospel 
of Christ: for it is the power of God unto sal- 
vation to every one that believeth: for therein 
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith 


v Rom. 10. 5, 6.—w Dan. 9. %4.—x Rom. 3, 20, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 3i 


to faith.”"y Do you ask for what purpose the 
gospel is sent? it is to manifest the righteous- 
ness of God in justifying sinners; it is to set 
before you the way of life by which you may 
enter into his presence with gladness. This 
righteousness is moreover confirmed by ample 
testimonies, “ BEING WITNESSED BY THE 
LAW AND THE PROPHETS.” The ceremonial 
law was a constant witness of the Jews of their 
need of a better righteousness than their own. 
The blood of their victims was but a type of 
the blood of “the Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world.” And to him give 
all he prophets witness, that “in the Lord 
shall all the seed of Israel be justified.” 
They all directly or indirectly bear testimony 
to the necessity, certainty, excellency, and 
glory of the righteousness of God. . And this 
glorious righteousness is “BY FAITH OF JESUS 
Curist.” Faith is the instrument by which 
it is made ours; it discovers its suitableness, 
and owns its excellency. The believer appre- 
hends and receives it, renounces his own righ- 
teousness, and submits cheerfully to that of 


-y Rom. 1. 16, 17.—z John 1. 29.--a Isa, 45, 25. 


32 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


God. For the righteousness of faith saith, 
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine 
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, 
thou shalt be saved.” St. Paul concludes 
the passage we have cited by declaring that 
this justifying righteousness of God is “ unTo 
ALL, AND UPON ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE; 
FOR THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE :’—what de- 
lightful tidings! We are “justified freely by 
his grace through the redemption that is in 
Christ Jesus.”° You need not bring any price 
in your hand, it is enough if you believingly 
apply for it,—it is enough if you renounce 
every other hope, and fix all your dependence 
here. Yes; whatever you have been, whether 
profligate as Onesimus, or amiable as Natha- 
niel; whether in the prime of manhood, or in 
the decline of age; whether honoured as 
Pilate, or condemned as the thief,—this righ- 
teousness is unto all and upon all them that 
believe: It is “unto all,” judicially imputed 
and placed to their account, releasing them 
from all the consequences of transgression ; 


b Rom. 10. 9.—c Rom. 3. 24, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GoD. 33 


“upon all” as a robe of righteousness, and a 
garment of salvation, ornamenting them with 
spotless purity. God makes no difference 
here between the prince and the beggar. 
“The rich shall not give more, and the poor 
shall not give less, when they give an offering 
unto the Lord, to make an atonement for 
your souls,””4 

This, beloved, is God’s method for you to 
approach him. And what does he require of 
you, but to acquiesce in the plan of his own 
divine equity—to rely upon no less a sacrifice 
than the glory of his perfections demands, a 
sacrifice equal to the demerit of sin—to em- 
brace the free and unmerited terms of the gos- 
pel, where “mercy and truth are met together, 
righteousness and peace kiss each other’—to 
accept them as the prisoner would hear the 
tidings of pardon, as the slave would welcome 
the news of liberty, as the blind receive their 
sight—to embrace this righteousness as a free 
gift, prize it as a suitable remedy, and be 
thankful to the Author for the blessings it m- 
parts. This, this is all he requires of you, O 


d Exod. 30. 15.—e Ps, 85. 10 


34 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


man. And do not these terms well suit one 
so poor, and so guilty, and so unworthy, as 
you? Can any plan you have ever conceived 
be so well adapted to your state? O what 
news is this for a poor trembling sinner! “Ye 
who were afar off are now made nigh by the 
blood of Christ."* This rends the vail of sepa- 
ration, and opens a free passage into the audi- 
ence-chamber of the ever blessed God. This 
makes the judge appear a friend, the avenger 
a protector. ‘Having therefore, brethren, 
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood 
of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he 
hath consecrated for us, though the veil, that 
is to say, his flesh, and having an high-priest 
over the house of God, let us draw near with a 
true heart, in full assurance of faith.” 
Plutarch tells us, that when Themistocles 
fled from the malice of his countrymen, he 
sought protection of king Admetus; but as 
his name, by his former conduct, was hateful 
to the king, he could, by such a proceeding, 
expect only banishment or destruction. He 
therefore resolved on this expedient; as he 


f Eph. 2.3 .g Heb. 10. 19, 22. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 35 


passed to the throne, he saw the king’s son, 
a beautiful child, whom he immediately took 
up in his arms, kneeled at his feet, presented 
himself with the child to the king, and pleaded 
for his life in the name of the king’s son. The 
king was so affected with his plea, that he 
immediately received him into his friendship. 
I will not insist upon the correctness of the 
analogy; as in this case personal resentment 
was pacified and disarmed by parental fond- 
ness; but God loved the criminal, and from 
that love gave his Son. His wrath is judicial, 
and is removed, not by fondness, but by atone- 
ment. Yet if you would be acquainted with 
God, imitate Themistocles. Take the King’s 
Son in the arms of your faith, to the footstool 
of his mercy. He is an authorized and a 
prevailing intercessor. Plead his mediation 
and perfect righteousness, and the King 
of heaven will say to you, as Laban said 
to Abraham’s servant, but with more affec- 
tion and sincerity, “Come in, thou blessed 
of the Lord; wherefore standest thou with- 
out ?”b 


h Gen, 24, 31, 


36 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


If this acquaintance is commenced, no- 
thing can maintain it but a constant remem- 
brance of the finished work of Jesus Christ, 
and dependence thereon. Sin often breeds a 
sad estrangement from God, in the minds of 
his people. Wherever it is indulged, or ex- 
cused, or allowed in the smallest degree, there 
will be a disinclination to his presence and 
society, a listlessness in duty, a carelessness in 
prayer, a want of appetite for ordinances. 
Many charge these things upon Satan, as the 
effect of his temptations, and sometimes they 
are so; but more frequently they result from 
some secret iniquity, not repented of, and not 
forsaken. A little time allowed for self-exa- 
mination would in most cases discover that the 
cause is nearer home. Conscience would 
remind us of some thoughts, or words, or 
actions, inconsistent with our high character 
as sons of God, and with the large professions 
of love and gratitude we have made to his 
name. Therefore God, very justly, hides his 
face when we do come; he will not vouch- 
safe the gracious tokens of his favour we have 
formerly experienced; he calls for a cloud to 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 37 


darken our path; bids us walk for a season in 
the vale of tears; and determines to go, and 
return to his place, till we acknowledge our 
offences, and seek his favour. 

What then should be our conduct under 
such circumstances? Surely not to leave off 
visiting his throne, as if we were offended with 
him; nor to sink in despondency, and give up 
our return as hopeless. This is but to add 
iniquity to iniquity, and misery to misery. He 
shall tell you what to do; “ Return, thou back- 
sliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not 
cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am 
merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep 
anger for ever; only acknowledge thine iniquity, 
that thou hast transgressed against the Lord 
thy God.) And to whom can you go, beloved, 
but unto him? He has the words of eternal 
life.k You have no other refuge than that 
which first sheltered you from the storm; no 
other fountain to wash away your guilt, than 
that which first cleansed your polluted soul. 
You must again come hither, as you first came, 
a poor guilty offender, and cast yourself upon 


i Hos. 5. 15.—j Jer. 3. 12.—k John 6. 68. 
D 


38 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


the boundless mercy of God through Jesus 
Christ: “for the Lord also will be a refuge for 
the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble; and 
they that know thy name will put their trust in 
thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them 
that seek thee.”! John says, “These things 
write I unto you, that ye sin not; but if any 
man sin, we have an advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he 
is the propitiation for our sins, and not 
for ours only, but for the sins of the whole 
world.”" QO! there is nothing calculated to 
make us fly from sin, or mourn over depar- 
ture from God, or glow with holy zeal for his 
service, and love to his presence, like the sweet 
thought of Christ’s love, that when we were 
as sheep going astray, turning every one to his 
own way, the Lord laid upon him the iniquity 
of us all; that it pleased the Lord to bruise 
him, to put him to grief, to make his soul an 
offering for sin ;2 that he “himself bore our 
sins, in his own body, on the tree, that we, being 
dead to sin, should live unto righteousness.’ 
One beam of divine love, darting into the heart 


1 Ps. 9. 9, 10.—m 1 John @. 1, 2.—n Isa. 53. 6, 10.—o 1 Pet. 2. 24, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 39 


of a backslider, will more effectually melt it 
than all the flames of Sinai. 


“ Law and terrors do but harden, 
All the while they work alone ; 
But a sense of blood-bought pardon 
Soon dissolves a heart of stone.” 


The atonement of Jesus must be remem- 
bered, not only to renew our acquaintance, but 
to continue it to the end. If we would be the 
friends of God, we must set the Lord always 
before us, as our high example of devotedness 
to his Father.—We must see him as crucified 
amongst us, as having “‘ put away sin by the sacri- 
fice of himself.”P We must consider him as 
enduring the ‘contradiction of sinners against 
himself, lest we be wearied and faint in our 
minds.”1 We must see him ascending up on high, 
and leading captivity captive, and receiving gifts 
for men,’ and seek to enrich ourselves with his 
splendid gifts, which, like a triumphant con- 
queror, he so freely scatters among his fol- 
lowers. We must “consider the apostle and 
high-priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,' 
as having entered into heaven itself, now to 


p Heb. 9. 26.—q Heb. 12. 3.—r Ps. 68. 18.—s8 Heb. 3. 1, 


40 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


appear in the presence of God for ws.” 
We must look for, and hasten unto, the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ to judg- 
ment; who shall change our vile bodies, 
they may be fashioned like unto his glo- 
vious body,” when we shall be caught up 
| by angels to meet the Lord in the air, and so 
shall ever be with the Lord.* ‘This spiritual 
knowledge of Christ is the key to open the 
intercourse of heaven, and shut us into the 
presence of God. As the love of Christ dwells 
in us, so will our acquaintance be firm and 
perpetual. The apostle felt no constraining 
influence equal to this, and therefore bowed his 
knees daily unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, for the Ephesians, that they might 
“comprehend, with all saints, what is the 
breadth and length and depth and height of 
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, 
that they might be filled with all the fulness 
of God.”Y And his prayer for others corre- 
sponded with his own practice. He fed his altar 
with God's fire, and the flame never went out. 


t Heb. 9. 24.—v 2 Pet. 3, 12—w Phil. 3. 2l.—x 1 Thess. 4. 17. 
—y Eph. 3. 14 to 19. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 4} 


Christ’s love was his attraction; Christ’s 
atonement his comfort; Christ’s death his 
life; Christ’s cross his crown; Christ’s righ- 
teousness his glory; Christ’s honour his aim. 
Hear him tell you how the acquaintance was 
perpetuated: “I am crucified with Christ, 
nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ 
liveth in me; and the life which I now 
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the 
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself 
for me.” 

_ Would you, beloved, be intimate with God ? 
Make Christ your alpha and omega. Encou- 
rage your hearts with repeated recollections 
that you are chosen in him, blessed in him, 
justified inhim. Let your daily motto for per- 
severance in this heavenly friendship be this; 
“« Seeing we have a great high priest, which is 
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, 
let us hold fast our profession: for we have not 
an high priest which cannot be touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities, but was iv all 


points tempted, like as we are, yet without 
sin. 


z Gal. 2. 20 
DZ 


42 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne 
of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find 
grace to help in time of need.”# 

The second great truth, to be especially 
remembered, is, that 

ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD REQUIRES THE 
INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Sin breeds a distaste in the mind for those 
spiritual delights which spring from the know- 
ledge of God. A sinner is averse to acquaint- 
ance with God. His ways, pursuits, and 
thoughts, are all directly contrary to God’s, 
and the language of every action is, “ Depart 
from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy 
ways.” Else why are not his most reasonable 
commands delighted in? especially since hap- 
piness is inseparable from obedience to his pre- 
cepts. A sinner is so blinded to his glorious 
perfections, that he can see no excellency worth 
enjoying. His visits to the throne of grace are 
mere drudgery, the effect of habit, or education, 
or slavish fear; and therefore, to this delight- 
ful spot, the theatre or card-table, household 
affairs or city business, the coffee-room or the 


a Heb. 4. 14, 16. -b Job 21. 14, 


aCQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 43 


walk of pleasure, are habitually preferred. So 
estranged is the heart from God, that nothing 
can bring it back again, but his own divine 
influence. The restoring of a lost sheep is 
the work of the shepherd; he must seek it, 
and place it in the fold, or it will wander still 
farther from home. Even afflictions, and judg- 
ments of the severest class, are insufficient to 
remove his antipathy to this acquaintance. 
The situation of Israel nationally was most 
afflicting. ‘Ah! sinful nation, a people laden 
with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that 
are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, 
they have provoked the holy One of Israel unto 
anger, they are gone away backward.’* And 
yet the prophet was so confident that nothing 
but the grace of God could accomplish their 
reformation and renovation, that he exclaims, 
«Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye 
will revolt more and more.” The cup of bitter- 
ness is never the cup of salvation, if the water 
of life be not the principal ingredient. Vol- 
canoes have poured forth their liquid fire, and 
devastated whole towns and neighbourhoods ; 


c Isa.-1, 4, 5. 


44 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


the earth has opened her mouth, and swallowed 
up thousands; rivers have overflowed their 
banks, and swept away the property and lives 
of men ; afflictions, bereavements, and troubles, 
like wave after wave, have visited families 
where God is not loved, and yet the inhabit- 
ants have not learned righteousness— they 
would not seek the Lord and his strength, even 
his face for evermore. O! there is nothing 
but a divine power, that can bring a soul to 
love, serve, and enjoy God. Hence you may 
account for the failure of so many of your vows 
and good resolutions. Does not the recollection 
of promises made in former trouble and aftlic- 
tion, sometimes force a sigh and a tear? Then 
you said, If the Lord raise me from this bed, 
my life shall henceforth be his. If he will gra- 
ciously deliver me from this trouble, I will lead 
a different life: his ways, his house, his service, 
shall be my delight. But the strength you 
received by that deliverance has been employed 
in a course of iniquity; your resolutions fled 
with your trouble, and returned only as spectres 
to alarm you. Learn, then, this fundamental 
truth, the first principle of the doctrine of 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 45 


Christ: “Through Christ we have access by 
the Spirit unto the Father.”4 

‘The carnal mind,” under whatever circum- 
stances it be found, whether of polished life or 
savage barbarism, “is enmity against God; it is 
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be.”e ‘*The natural man,’ whether wise as 
Solomon, or ignorant as a heathen, “ receiveth 
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they 
are foolishness unto him; neither can he know 
them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 
The blind may as easily discern the spots in 
the sun, as you discover the glory of God in 
Christ, without divine illumination. It must 
be revealed unto you by his Spirit. God, who 
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, 
must shine into your heart, to give you the 
light of the knowledge of his glory, in the 
face of Jesus Christ. By this light you will 
see yourself in your true character. Your en- 
lightened understanding will discover Jesus, 
in his person and work, as an all-sufficient 
Saviour. You will perceive such suitableness, 
excellency, sufficiency, and superiority, in the 


d Eph. 2. 18.—e Rom. 8. 7.—f 1 Cor. 2. 14.—g 2 Cor. 4. 6. 


46 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


things which are eternal, that things which are 
temporal, however precious in your estimation, 
are comparatively nothing. Your judgment is al- 
ready convinced that all on earth 1s vanity; that 
every thing perishes with the using ; that there 
is not enough in all the gaieties, fascinations, 
and pleasures of this life, to make an immor- 
tal mind happy—and yet your affections cleave 
to them, as if your bliss depended entirely on 
their use. What but a divine influence can 
dissolve the fast hold they have taken of the 
things of the earth, and set them on things 
above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand 
of God—can make you choose rather to 
suffer affliction with the people of God, than 
to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season—~ 
can help you to say to the followers of the 
despised Nazarene, I will go with you, for I 
have heard that God is with you—can excite 
you deliberately to prefer the things you now 
despise, associate with the people you now ab- 
hor, and walk in the ways you now avoid ? 
Yes, you must be born from above, created 
anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, or you 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 47 


cannot walk in them. Beloved, the object of 
this good work is to restore God’s moral image, 
which is created in righteousness and true holi- 
ness; for as we must not appear before our 
heavenly Father, but in the royal robe of the 
Redeemer’s righteousness, the garment of our 
elder brother, so neither without our orna- 
ments, such as “a meek and quiet spirit, 
which in the sight of God is of great price’i— 
a broken and a contrite heart, a sacrifice which 
he will not despise\—and the fruits of the Spirit, 
which are “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper- 
ance, against which there is no law.”* A man, 
however moral his conduct, or unblameable 
his character in the sight of men, is as a 
whited sepulchre, till this inward renovation is 
effected. No honours, or riches, or talents, 
or alms, can supply the deficiency of these 
heavenly graces. Nicodemus was highly 
esteemed; few could vie with him in inte- 
grity of principle and amiableness of de- 
portment; and yet the first lesson the Sa- 


h John 3. 3. Eph. 2. 10.—i 1 Pet. 3. 4.—) Ps. 51. 17.—k Galat. 
5. 29, 23. 


48 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


viour taught him was, “Except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 
Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be 
born again.” 

Beloved, ‘‘can two walk together, except they 
be agreed ?’”™ Then how unfit are you, while un- 
regenerate, for acquaintance with God ; “What fel- 
lowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? 
And what communion hath light with darkness ? 
And what concord hath Christ with Belial ?”» 
Your body is not the temple of the living God ; 
but sin reigns in it, unto death. There is an 
unholy backwardness to come into his presence. 
But when this good work of regeneration is 
begun, a divine and indissoluble union with 
him is produced. ‘He who is joined to the 
Lord is one spirit;”° and hence proceeds ac- 
quaintance. Union is the foundation of fellow- 
ship, and fellowship is the effect of union. In 
that inimitable example of acquaintance be- 
tween Jonathan and David, the Holy Ghost 
shews that the communion they enjoyed was 
founded in union of heart. “It came to pass 
when David had made an end of speaking, that 


i John 3. 3,7.-m Amos 3. 3.—n 2 Cor. 6.14, 15 --o 1 Cor, 6. 17, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 49 


the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of 
David, and Jonathan loved him as his own 
soul.”P Then we read of the covenants they 
made, of the gifts they presented, of their ten- 
der converse and mutual sorrow, of the pledges 
of their love, and the tears they shed at their 
departure from each other. Union of soul pro- 
duced these things, and at last drew from the 
pen of David an unequalled and pathetic elegy, 
on the decease of his beloved Jonathan.1 And 
you will not love God, nor his service, till the 
stony heart is taken out of your flesh ;* till that 
obdurate, obstinate, unbelieving principle is re- 
moved, and a living, susceptible, bleeding heart 
is bestowed. Then the stream of your affec- 
tions will reverse its course, and flow into its 
original and legitimate ocean, God, who is love. 
Yes; when he sheds light upon the eyes of 
your understanding, which have been long 
closed in darkness, and unlocks the will, 
which has been stubbornly bolted against 
your rightful sovereign, and opens a well of 
living water in your heart, which, springing up 
into everlasting life, shall cleanse that worse 


p 1 Sam. 18.1 to 4.—q 2 Sam. 1. 17, 27.—r Ezek. 11. 19, 
E 


50 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


than Augean stable, and sanctify body, soul, 
and spirit; then shall you become the temple 
of the Lord,’ a habitation for the mighty God 
of Jacob. He will dwell in you, and walk in 
you ;t he shall say, “It is my people,” and you 
shall say, “The Lord is my God." A vital 
union will be formed. A holy friendship will 
be established, upon scriptural and rational 
principles—a friendship which no alteration of 
worldly circumstances shall affect—a friendship 
which shall cause him to know your soul in 
adversities ; to bow down his ear to your sup- 
plications; to lift up the light of his counte- 
nance upon you; to supply your necessities ; 
to make your interests his own; and to reserve 
for eternity the full development of his love, in 
the perfect conformation of your spirit to his 
own, and the grant of perpetual residence m 
his presence above. “For this is as the waters 
of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that 
the waters of Noah should no more go over 
the earth; so have I sworn that I would not 
be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the 
mountains shall depart, and the hills be 


8 1Cor. 3. 16.—t 2 Cor. 6.16.—u Zech. 13. 9. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 51 


removed, but my kindness shall not depart 
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my 
peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath 
mercy on thee.”” 

I fear lest Satan should get an advantage 
over some who hesitate to commence this 
acquaintance, (for we are not ignorant of his 
devices,) by insinuating that, as fitness for this ac- 
quaintance must arise from the operations of the 
holy Spirit alone, they may sit down in the chair 
of sloth, and fold their arms in indifference, and 
so persuade them to take this soporific draught 
from the prince of darkness: ‘1f Tam an elect 
vessel of mercy, then I shall be saved; if not, 
I must be lost” Dearly beloved, is your heart 
desirous of this acquaintance? Then hearken 
not to the wicked one. However guilty your 
former life, the promise of the Spirit is made 
distinctly to you as a sinner, to lead you into 
this happy communion, and make you a friend 
of God. Hear you not the sound? ‘“ Wisdom 
crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the 
streets; she crieth in the chief place of con- 
course, in the opening of the gates : in the city 


v Isa. 34. 9, 10. 


52 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye 
simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the 
scorners delight in their scorning? and fools 
hate knowledge?”" Now search, and see to 
which of these classes you belong. Are you 
‘a simple one,” guided by the fashions of 
others, and filled with simple prejudices 
against the ways of God, without decision 
of character, or a will to investigate and 
judge for yourself; sporting with your own 
deceivings, and flattering yourself in your 
wickedness? Or, are you “a scorner,” who 
feels a satanic pleasure in converting the 
threatenings and promises of God into profane 
jests; one whose proud heart has treated with 
contempt the doctrines, laws, admonitions, 
and warnings of God, as well as parental and 
ministerial advice; and who now, in defiance 
of the authority of heaven, joins league with the 
confederates of hell, and asks with consum- 
mate effrontery, “ Who is the Almighty, that 
I should serve him; and what profit should I 
have if I pray unto him?’* Or are you “a 
fool,” who hates knowledge, (and fools only 


w Prov. 1, 20, 22.—x Job 21, 15. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 53 


hate such knowledge,) and while professing a 
rooted antipathy to serious godliness and re- 
formation, vainly suppose, although you live in 
the constant neglect of divine things, that you 
know enough to take you to heaven, and that 
it will go well with you at last? Surely more 
guilty characters can hardly be found. Yet 
to them this loving language is addressed : 
“Turn you at my reproof; behold, 1 will pour 
out my Spirit unto you, I will make known 
my words unto you.Y If then you are not 
his friend, the fault does not lie with him. 
If you are the companions of fallen angels for 
ever, you will not have to charge him with 
neglecting to invite you to better society and 
purer joys. Your blood will be upon your 
own head.?_ But does not such love melt your 
heart? Are you not astonished that you, an 
ungrateful rebel, should be thus intreated to 
become acquainted with him whom you have 
despised, provoked, and rejected? That he 
should stoop to you, who have exalted yourself 
against him, and, with the melting tenderness 
of a father over a prodigal, advise, persuade, 


y Prov. 1, 23.—z Ezek. 33, 7. to 9. 


E2 


54 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


and invite you to be his for ever? Hearken to 
his voice, dear reader; it shall be for your 
health. “Wherefore do ye spend your money 
for that which is not bread? and your labour 
for that which satisfieth not? hearken dili- 
gently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, 
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 
Incline your ear and come unto me, hear and 
your soul shall live, and I will make an ever- 
lasting covenant with you, even the sure 
mercies of David.’4 

Again: Are you really in earnest about the 
salvation of your soul? Do you desire to for- 
sake the world, to be the Lord’s child, and 
henceforth to cleave to him with purpose of 
heart? Is the salvation of Christ suitable, and 
God’s beloved precious to you? Do you 
answer before God, Yes, indeed, these are 
the desires of my soul! I know that, whereas 
I was once blind, now I see; yet I want the 
assurance of faith, the satisfaction that I am 
elected of God, and the comfort of the Holy 
Ghost; but I fear that one so unworthy and 
ignorant can never hope for privileges so un- 


a Isa. 55. 2, 3. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 55 


speakable. O beloved, whatever you may think 
of yourself, you are not far from the kingdom 
of God. Those very desires are more lovely 
in God’s eyes, than the most costly sacrifices. 
“The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear 
him, in those that hope in his mercy.”® The 
light by which you have already discovered 
something of your real character, and a little 
of the superior excellency of Christ’s service, 
came from the Sun of righteousness; and 
however indistinct may be your views, or weak 
your desires, he will not despise the work of 
his own hands. “A bruised reed shall he 
not break, and the smoking flax shall he not 
quench.”* Grace is poured into his lips, to 
strengthen the bruised reed, and fan the 
flax to a flame. Hear, and the Lord give 
you an understanding heart to receive them : 
“If ye, being evil, know how to give good 
gifts unto your children, how much more shall 
your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to 
them that ask him?”4 Are youa parent? Do 
you know the willingness of parental love to 
give a darling infant the good things for which 


b Ps. 147. 11.—c Isa. 42. 3.—d Luke 11. 15. 


56 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


it cannot ask but by tears and_ inarticulate 
cries? Have you imprinted kisses on_ its 
cheek, and wished for a thousand blessings 
on its lovely head! Have you cheerfully 
sacrificed your own ease, comfort, and peace, 
to alleviate and soothe the sorrows of your 
-ender babe? How much more shall the 
Fountain of love, from which all your tender 
sympathies are derived, bestow (in this one 
gift, the Holy Spirit) all good pif on you 
who ask him ? 

It must be remembered, that our acquaint- 
ance with God can be perpetuated, only, by the 
abiding presence and influence of the Holy 
Ghost. It is written, “ Eye hath not seen, nor 
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart 
of man, the things which God hath prepared 
for them that love him.”* Happy indeed are 
they who can add, “But God hath revealed 
them unto us by his Spirit ; for the Spirit search- 
eth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” 
He must not only quicken our spirits, but 
keep them alive; else all our communion 
with God will be toilsome; we shall be like a 


e 1 Cor. 2. 9, 10, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 57 


person labouring under some enfeebling disease, 
which causes indifference to the society of the 
friend he loves. ‘The flesh lusteth against the 
spirit ;’! and if the flesh, with its affections and 
lusts, be not crucified, we shall be continually 
under its influence, and driven any where 
rather than to commune with God. Now 
the lusts of the flesh can be subdued and mor- 
tified only by a continual supply of the Spirit 
of grace. ‘If ye, through the Spirit, do mor- 
tify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”§ 
Mortification is unnatural to us. We love to 
please ourselves ; to gratify our passions. This 
work requires some mightier agent than our own 
feeble resolutions, which too often yield to the 
solicitations of Satan, whose main object is to 
destroy the life of righteousness, by preventing 
this death unto sin. The inhabitation of the 
Spirit of God is therefore promised to all belie- 
vers, to maintain deadness to the world, ascen- 
dancy over the flesh, and the conflict with Satan; 
and thus to fit us for the presence of the holy 
Lord God Almighty. Jesus left this promise 
as his great legacy to the church, to which the 


f Gal. 5. 17.—g Rom. 8. 13, 


58 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


weakest saint has a claim; “I will pray the 
Father, and he shall give you another comforter, 
that he may abide with you for ever; even the 
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, 
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; 
but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and 
shall be in you.”® 

Is not this our great error, that we are not 
sufficiently dependent on divine influence, to 
maintain within us that holy intimacy? Our 
judgment and conduct are greatly at variance. 
We know and approve the truth, and should 
feel there was something deficient in that ser- 
mon where the necessity of divine influence to 
walk with God was not enforced. And yet we 
enter unon the work as if all the power were 
in our own hands ; as if in continual walking the 
celestial road, we needed none of that food, of 
which if a man eat he shall live for ever ; or none 
cf those balmy gales of soul-reviving air, which 
the Spirit breathes; none of that water which 
he causes to spring up to everlasting life, that 
we thirst not, and turn not to the broken cis- 
terns of the world to draw; none of that divine 


h John 14. 16, 17. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 59 


direction which He as ‘ the guide into all truth’ 
imparts; none of that effectual working, without 
which we remain unsanctified and impure, and 
have no part in Jesus. “O Lord, by these 
things men live, and in all these things is the 


aT 


life of my Spirit.” How then are we so foolish? 
Have we begun in the spirit, and shall we end 
in the flesh? That be far from us. If we felt 
the value of his presence and influence as David 
did, we should dread his departure from us 
more than the loss of any terrestrial comfort we 
enjoy. Our daily prayer would be, Lord, of 
whatever thou deprivest me, houses, or lands, 
or wife, or children, or friends, or ordinances, 
or health, or wealth, “ take not thy Holy Spirit 
from me.”J 

Now, to cherish this heavenly desire, consider 
how much you are indebted to the Spirit for his 
operations in this celestial intercourse, and how 
dependent you are upon his aid. Let us survey 
a few of those happy effects which result from 
HIs divine grace and teacking. 

A knowledge of our condition is one of His 
blessed fruits. “The Spirit itself beareth 


i Isa, 38. 16.—j Ps. 51, 11. 


60 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


witness with our spirits, that we are the 
children of God;’* his testimony is true, and 
it imparts a satisfaction that no books, or 
friends, or minister, can supply. How necessary 
is this satisfaction, in our acquaintance with 
God! To have a rational assurance, from scrip- 
tural evidence, of adoption; to be confident 
ot this very thing, that he is my Father, and 
that I, though unworthy, and poor, and guilty, 
am his child. How diffident is a servant; how 
bold is achild. The elect angels are not exalted: 
to so high an honour. They approach the 
throne, but they veil their faces with their wings. 
They stand, clothed in their own righteousness, 
you, in the righteousness of God! They are 
servants, you are children. That high and mys- 
terious privilege of which we speak, is reserved 
for you to enjoy. “ Because ye are sons, God 
hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your 
hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”! Thus he main- 
tams in you a filial, loving, obedient disposition, 
and childlike confidence. 

Again, what an invaluable blessing is such 
a heavenly prompter, to hearts so forgetful as 


k Rom. 8. 16-—1 Gal. 4. 6, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 61 


ours! We rightly complain of our bad memo- 
ries; bad indeed, to suffer most that is good to 
escape, and to lock up as a treasure all that is 
non-essential or injurious to our happiness. But 
He, says the Redeemer, “ shall bring all things 
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said 
to you."™ ‘The treasury of comfort is the pro- 
mises of God: yet how oft are they forgotten, 
and when remembered, and most improved by 
our own meditations, how spiritless and ineffec- 
tual without the Spirit’s influence! All the 
promises of Christ had no effect on the mind 
of the disciples: Why? “The Spirit was not 
yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified ;”" 
but when he was glorified, “ they remembered 
his words.”° And if, in seasons of distress, 
the Holy Spirit applies a suitable promise to 
the desponding mind, how strengthening to 
faith, how relieving to fear! Then every cloud 
is stamped with a rainbow, and every desert 
spot rejoices and blossoms as the rose. It gilds 
the bed of death with beams from heaven, and 
directs and encourages the dying saint to enter 
his Father’s house in peace. 


m Johr 14. 26.—n John 7. 39.—o Luke 24. 8, John 12. 16. 
F 


62 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


Further, it is his office to glorify and exalt 
the blessed Redeemer in our estimation. The 
constancy of our acquaintance depends on 
believing views of the atonement of Christ, 
who is the object to which the finger of the 
Spirit continually points. “He shall glorify 
me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew 
it unto you.”° When guilt troubles your con- 
science, and unbelieving fears oppress your 
heart, he will conduct you in spirit to Calvary, 
and place you beneath that wondrous cross, 
where the fellow of Jehovah? bled, and groaned, 
and died. Then shall you gaze with wonder and 
delight upon that precious blood, which gives 
dignity and harmony to every song that is sung 
in heaven. The tears of sorrow and of joy shall 
flow down your cheeks, as you look upon him 
whom you have pierced, while your heart shall 
respond to the dictates of the Spirit, ““ He loved 
me, he gave himself for me.”4 And, as Hanni- 
bal, who, at the request of his father, took a 
solemn oath that he never would be at peace 
with the Romans; so shall you swear eternal 
enmity and war to those sins which separated 


0 Joho 16.14. p Zec. 13.7.—q Gal. 2, 20. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH COD. 63 


you from God, and crucified the Lord of life 
and glory. When, casting away the filthy rags 
of your own righteousness, and turning from 
your ‘refuges of lies,” you will rest on a foun- 
dation, as extensive as the obedience of the 
Redeemer’s life and death, and unshaken as 
his eternal power and godhead. 

Further: he will instruct you how to com- 
mune with your*heavenly Father in the way 
to the kingdom. When illiterate in the art of 
prayer, “ the Spirit helpeth our infirmities,” ‘he 
maketh intercession for us with groanings which 
cannot be uttered ;”* with groanings which reach 
the throne of glory, and move the heart of the 
God of glory, those inexpressible, but forcible 
sounds, which enter into the ears of the Lord 
of sabaoth: “He maketh intercession for the 
saints, according to the will of God;” he who 
searches all things, even the deep things of 
God,° who knows all the secrets of his myste- 
rious will, shall dictate your petitions, and direct 
your prayers. If, unskilful in the word of 
righteousness, and ignorant as untutored in- 
fancy, often shedding tears for a wise and 


understanding heart to be given you, “he shall 
y Rom. 8 26, Z7.—8 1 Cor. 2. 10 


64 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GUD. 


teach you all things ;”* not indeed all things 
you wish to know, but all things necessary to 
promote humble views of yourself, and exalted 
views of your Lord and Master; all things 
which characterize “the wisdom that is from 
above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gen- 
tle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and 
good fruits, without partiality, and without 
hypocrisy ;”" all things which shall tend to ful- 
fil that promise, “All thy children shall be 
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace 
of thy children,”” Not only does he instruct, 
but, infinitely surpassing an earthly tutor, he be- 
stows the disposition and ability to receive his in- 
structions. “I will give thema heart to know me, 
that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, 
and I will be their God; for they shall return 
unto me with their whole heart.” And is not 
this the knowledge after which you sincerely seek ? 

Finally, the Holy Spirit is the Comforter. 
When the dark cloud of adversity casts a gloom 
over all your prospects, when family trials and 
worldly troubles crowd upon you; when the 
fig-tree does not blossom, and fruit is not found 


in the vine; then he will be your Comforter. He 
t John 14. 26.—u Jam. 3. 17.—v Isa. 54.13, w Jer. 24. 7. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 65 


will shew you that the rod in his hand isa pen- 
cil by which he draws God’s image in fairer 
lines upon your soul. He will give you skill, like 
the bee, to extract honey from the thorn as well 
as the rose. As the Spirit of might, he will grant 
you strength to take up your cross, and bear it 
daily. He will exhibit the Saviour, bearing a 
heavier cross for you, and carrying away your 
sins into a land of forgetfulness. And, however 
others, who know not God, may seem to trip 
lightly through the world, still, he will convince 
you, that amidst all afflictions, “ Blessed is that 
man,” and only he, “ whose iniquities are for- 
given, and whose sins are covered.”* He will 
make you glory in tribulations, by shedding 
abroad the everlasting, inexpressible, and abiding 
love of God in your heart,y and opening to your 
view his riches in glory to supply your need. 
There shall be musicin your conscience, while there 
is sorrow in your eye; a prospect of “an eternal 
weight of glory,” for your “light affliction, which 
is but for a moment:? and an inheritance 
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 


away, ® for the loss of your transitory pos- 
Sessions. 


x Rom. 4. 7.~—y Rom. 5. 3, 5.--z 2 Cor.4. 7-—a 1 Pet. i. 4, 
F2 


66 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


How will this drawing of the Spirit make you 
run after him, and without it how sluggishly will 
you proceed! Converse with God requires a 
truly spiritual mind. Flesh and blood cannot 
enter into the kingdom of heaven; our carnal 
natures have no taste for these heavenly enjoy- 
ments ; and therefore, provoke your hearts with 
this truth, to seek a large measure of divine as- 
sistance. ‘They that are after the flesh do 
mind the things of the flesh; but they that are 
after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” 

Now, O thou of little faith, wherefore dost 
thou doubt? Why art thou fearful? Why are 
thou cast down, O trembling soul? Why art 
thou inwardly disquieted? ‘“ Hope thou in God, 
for thou shalt yet praise him, who is the health 
of thy countenance, and thy God.”* What cause 
have you to fear? See upon whom the whole work 
depends. Consider what this blessed Spirit has 
already done for you. Once ye were darkness, 
but now light in the Lord ;* once far from God 
by wicked works, now brought nigh by the blood 
of Christ. He might have chosen whether he 
would have given you this grace, or not; but 


having begun to work in you, his grace and 
b Rom. 8 .5.—c Ps, 42, 11—d Eph. 5.8, 2, 13. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 67 


covenant pledge him to perfect the work, and 
prepare you as a bride for glory. You may there- 
fore, with the apostle, be confident that ‘‘ he who 
hath begun a good work in you, will perform it un- 
til the day of Jesus Christ.”* Your weakness, and 
ignorance, and unworthiness, are no obstacles ; 
he is mightier than all your foes, and has reme- 
dies for all your complaints. You are already 
sealed by him unto the day of redemption, as 
the property of the Lord; and the impression 
shall never be effaced, but be more visible to 
your own and others’ eyes, as you increase in 
the knowledge of God. Depend entirely upon 
his agency, to attain a richer acquaintance with 
God. Put yourself into his hands, and say, 
“ Thou hast delivered my soul from death ; wilt 
not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may 
walk before God in the light of the living ?’”* 
Cleave to him, and you shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost; for the promise is unto you, and to 
your children, and to all that are afar off, even 
as many as the Lord our God shall call.”€ 


e Phil. 1. 6.—f Ps. 56. 13.—g Acts 2. 30. 


68 


CHAPTER IV. 


ON THE SUBORDINATE MEANS OF ACQUAINT-=: 
ANCE WITH GOD. 


Sucu are the essential means of divine 
acquaintance, and its life when begun. But 
in becoming acquainted with the Most High, 
there are some subordinate methods, as truly 
important and appointed. These are the 
same as we should use to acquaint ourselves 
with the character of an earthly friend. 
This acquaintance then is to be gained and 
improved, first, 

By HEARING AND RECEIVING THE RE- 
PORTS OF HIS FRIENDS. 

The opinion of the world respecting him is of 
small importance to you. If you are a follower 
of God as a dear child, its opinion of yourself 
is not very honourable; for the world will hate 
you just in proportion as you bear the divine 
image, Jesus forewarned you of this, “If the 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 69 


world hate you, ye know that it hated me 
before it hated you.” Carnal men are most 
incompetent judges, both of his character as 
a master, and of the blessedness of his ac- 
quaintance, since they hate both. We should 
not go, for a report of the general conduct of 
a master, to an out-door servant, who received 
his orders but once a week, and only saw 
him again at its close, to receive his wages; 
but to one who lived with him in the house, 
who saw his daily habits and his accustomed 
disposition, And to know God, should you 
not learn of those who are acquainted with 
him; who are in the habit of daily commu- 
nion with him; who have had long experience 
of the blessedness of his service; who wait 
upon him, and hear his wisdom? And what 
do they say? Jacob when dying left this 
testimony—‘ The God that fed me all my life 
long, unto this day, and the angel which 
redeemed me from all evil.”i Joshua, the 
captain of the Lord’s host, in similar circum- 
stances declares, “ Behold, this day I am going 
the way of all the earth, and ye know in all 


h John 15, 18.—i Gen. 43. 15, 16. 


70 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one 
thing hath failed of all the good things which 
the Lord your God spake concerning you; all 
are cume to pass unto you, and not one thing 
hath failed thereof.”5 David the king of 
Israel, the man after God’s own heart, avows, 
“Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O 
Lord, according to thy word.”* Asaph cries, 
* Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there 
is none upon the earth that I desire beside 
thee.”! Nahum tells his flock, “The Lord is 
good; a strong hold in the day of trouble: and 
he knoweth them that trust in him.” Paul 
says, “I know whom I have believed, and I am 
persuaded that he is able to keep that which 
[have committed to him against that day.”® 
Peter exclaims, “‘ Blessed be the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his 
abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a 
lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead.”° Now these were opinions 
derived from his service and presence. And the 
sufferings of these saints proved their sincerity. 


3} Josh. 23. 14.—k Ps. 119.65.—1 Ps.73.25.—m Nah. 1.7.—n@ Tim, 
1. 12.—o0 1 Pet. 1. 3. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 71 


Most of them sacrificed reputation, property, 
possessions, comforts, parents, friends, and life 
itself, for his sake. Some “ were tortured, not 
accepting deliverance, that they might obtain 
a better resurrection ; and others had trial of 
cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, more- 
over, of bonds and imprisonment: they were 
stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, 
were slain with the sword: they wandered 
about in sheepskins and goatskins; being des- 
titute, afflicted, tormented.”P Yet all bear 
record to the faithfulness and loving-kindness 
of God; “ esteeming,” like Moses, “ the re- 
proach of Christ greater riches than the trea- 
sures in Egypt.”4 Should not their testimony 
have some weight with you? Go, and hearken 
to the testimony of a tried disciple; “TI reckon 
that the sufferings of this present time are 
not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed in us.”" It naturally 
strengthens our affection for the friend we 
love, to hear another speak well of him; 
and when Jesus and his salvation are the 
theme of discourse, the Spirit of the Lord 


p Heb, 11. 35—37.—q ver, 26.—r Rom. 8. 18. 


72 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


will, by the breath of such heavenly converse, 
fan your spark of love into a flame. These 
good words shall make your heart glad, and 
help you to say with David, “Our fathers 
trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst 
deliver them. They cried unta thee, and were 
delivered; they trusted in thee, and were not 
confounded.”* Therefore “I will say of the 
Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my 
God, in him will J trust.’ 

Every sincere minister of the gospel is the 
friend of God. God has called him by his 
grace to the fellowship of his Son, and having 
handled the word of life, he comes to you as 
a faithful witness of the blessedness of this 
acquaintance. ‘That which we have seen 
and heard declare we unto you, that ye also 
may have fellowship with us. And truly our 
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son 
Jesus Christ.”* The substance of their report 
is, “ God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." The work of.the ministry was appointed 


c Ps, 22.4, 5. s Ps. 91 2.—t 1 John i. 3—u John 3. 16. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 73 


to introduce you to a higher esteem of the 
friend of sinners, and through him to an 
acquaintance with God. “Now then we are 
ambassadors for Christ; as though God did 
beseech you by us; we pray you, in Christ’s 
stead, be ye reconciled to God.”” If then you 
sleep away sermons; if you disesteem the 
ambassadors who bring the treaty of peace, if 
you disbelieve the good news, “that Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners,”’” 
to reconcile them by his blood unto God; 
this acquaintance cannot commence. Think 
how offensive to the majesty of heaven must 
be such impious disdain of his transcendent 
love. When the Jews despised the messages 
of the prophets, of Jesus, and of his apostles, 
misery followed them; and they are now mc 
numents of divine vengeance, for putting away 
from them the word of life. And think, I 
beseech you, what will be the reflections of an 
awakened conscience, when, looking back upon 
neglected sabbaths, despised ordinances, and 
rejected sermons, it shall mournfully exclaim, 
“‘ How have I hated instruction, and my heart 


vy 2 Cor, 5. 21.—w 1 Tim, i, 55. 
G 


74 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


despised reproof!”* And how can this re- 
proach be borne, from him whom you might 
have served and enjoyed for ever? “ For that 
they hated knowledge, and did not choose the 
fear of the Lord: they would none of my 
counsel : they despised all my reproof; there- 
fore shall they eat of the fruit of their own 
ways, and be filled with their own devices.”¥ 
Ye blessed disciples of the Lord Jesus, was 
it not believing the witness of God concerning 
his Son that first introduced you to him? “ For 
the gospel came not unto you in word only, but 
also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in 
much assurance; and ye became followefs of the 
Lord, having received the word in much affiic- 
tion, and joy of the Holy Ghost.”? Oh, when 
the news of a free pardon reached your con- 
victed and condemned soul, when it was 
revealed, and the Spirit assured you that 
“God, even our Father, had loved you, and 
given you everlasting consolation and good 
hope through grace,”* what sacred and delight- 
ful communion had you with the Father and 
the Son! If the stones could speak, and the 


x Prov, 5. 12.—y Proy. i 29. 21.—z 1 Thess. 1. 5,6.—a @ Thess. 2. 96 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. eh 


chamber tell, each would report the tears 
you shed, and the happiness you experienced, 


while uttering sentiments similar to these :-— 


“« 1 thank thee, uncreated Sun, 

That thy bright beams on me have shin’d 
I thank thee, who hast overthrown 

My foes, and heal’d my wounded mind; 
I thank thee, whose enlivening voice 
Bids my freed heart in thee rejoice. 
Thee will Ilove, my joy, my crown! 
Thee will I love, my Lord, my God 
Thee will I love; though all may frown, 
And thorns and floods perplex my road; 
Yea, when my heart and flesh decay, 
Thee shall I love in endless day.” 


What was the result of this discovery and 
persuasion of his love to your soul? Certainly 
this; “One thing have I desired of the Lord, 
that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the 
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to 
behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire 
in his temple.”® 

And as the sabbaths have succeeded weeks of 
toil and family care, what a glow of celestial gra- 
titude has filled your bosom, when in the sane- 
tuary you have heard some man of God speak 
of the glorious honour of his majesty and 
of his wondrous works, or tell of his terrible 


1) Ps, Shs > 


70 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


acts, and declare his greatness, or abundantly 
utter the memory of his great goodness, and 
exult in his righteousness!» How little have 
you envied the worldling his joys! How 
trifling have all your trials appeared, when 
contrasted with the present privilege of such 
heavenly intercourse, and the hope of dwelling 
in the house of the Lord for ever! O! how 
does it endear God to the heart, to have found 
him sensibly present in the sanctuary, refresh- 
ing the soul with dews of spiritual comfort in 
the midst of fiery trials. 

And as you “believe in the Lord your God, 
so shall you be established; believe his pro- 
phets, so shall ye prosper.”° Wherever there 
is hungering and _thirsting after righteousness, 
and a sincere desire to be intimately acquainted 
with God, through the person and work of Christ, 
so that ye may be “rooted and built up in 
him, and established in the faith as ye have been 
taught; and whoever for this purpose is diligent 
in the means of grace, attentive to the instruc- 
tions of ministers, and associates with the 
people of God; that soul shall find God faith- 


Ps. 145. 5to7.—c 2 Chron. 20. 20.—d Col. 2. 7. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD 79 


ful to his promise; “Blessed is the people that 
know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O 
Lord, in the light of, thy countenance. In thy 
name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy 
righteousness shall they be exalted.” 

A second means of becoming acquainted with 
an individual is, 

READING THE HISTORY OF HIS LIFE, AND 
THE DESCRIPTION OF HIS CHARACTER. 

Biography makes us familiar with the habits 
of our ancestors, and introduces us to an ac- 
quaintance with the lives of eminent men of all 
ages and countries. The character of God in 
Christ is drawn in scripture with an unerring 
hand. There you have a delineation of his 
perfections, and a history of his ways towards 
the children of men. There he is seen “ glorious 
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.” 
And to be habitually acquainted with him, you 
must habitually study his word. This is the 
decree and promise: “If thou criest after 
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for under- 
standing; if thou seekest her as silver, and 
searchest for her as for hid treasure ; then shalt 


e Ps. 89. 15, 
G2 


78 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find 
the knowledge of God.”f God has remarkably 
connected our happiness with our industry. An 
indolent saint is a miserable being; so unlike 
him whose image he partially bears, as almost 
to destroy the likeness. How can such persons 
expect to arrive at that acquaintance with God 
which David and Paul and Jeremiah enjoyed ? 
Their acquaintance was perpetuated, not by 
‘occasional visions or revelations, but by a con- 
stant and assiduous search into God’s revealea 
will. “Thy words were found, and I did eat 
them: and thy word was unto me the joy and 
rejoicing of my heart.”& “O, how I love thy 
law: it is my meditation all the day." “From 
a child thou hast know the holy scriptures, 
which are able to make thee wise unto salva- 
tion.”i Peter saw the transfiguration of Christ 
on the mount, and beheld his glory; but lest 
we should suppose such revelations essential 
to our present peace, he directs us to the word 
of God. that secure and infallible basis; 
“We have a more sure word of prophecy,” 
more sure than that glorious manifestation 


f Prov. 2. 3, 5.—g Jer. 15.16.—h Ps. 119. 97.~i 2 Tim. 3. 15. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 79 


which he beheld; “unto which ye do well 
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth 
in a dark place.”i Without this light, all is 
darkness respecting Goa. None can reveal to 
us what the infinite God is, but himself. This 
he has done in his word: and unless this is 
“alamp to our feet,” how can we find out 
the place of the Lord, or the habitation of the 
mighty God of Jacob, or go even to his seat, 
and dwell with him? Reading, meditating, and | 
digesting this word, adds a lustre to the cha- 
racter, a heavenly dignity to the mind. We 
are strong when the word of God abideth in 
us.« Having our loins girt about with truth,’ 
we run without weariness, and walk without 
fainting. The Bereans took not upon trust any 
thing the apostles asserted, but “‘ were more 
noble than those of Thessalonica, in that. they 
received the word with all readiness of mind, and 
searched the scriptures daily, to see if these 
things were so; and therefore many believed.”™ 

The first of all the commandments is, “ Hear, 
O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord. And, 
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine 


j 2 Pet. 1.19, k 1 John 2, 14.—1 Eph. 6, 14.—m Acts 17, 11. 


80 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


neart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind, and with all thy strength.”" Our Savi- 
our puts the knowledge of God before the love 
of God, because we cannot love an object of 
which we are ignorant. If there be dark and 
confused ideas of God in the understanding, 
there cannot be much true love of him in the 
heart, nor much acceptable service rendered to 
him. We shall be like the Athenians, who 
erected an altar to the unknown God. “He 
that cometh to God must believe that he is, 
and that he is a rewarder of them that dili- 
gently seek him.”° Nor is it sufficient to know 
there is a God, he must be acknowledged as 
he reveals himself in his word: “There are 
three that bear record in heaven; the Father, 
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these 
Three are One.”P ‘Jehovah, our Elvhim, 
is one Jehovah, three persons in one divine 
essence, without confusion or inequality. To 
the scriptures alone we are indebted for this 
revelation. ‘‘The world by wisdom knew not 
God.”* All the learning of Greece and Rome 


n Deut. 6. 4, 5.—o Heb. 13, 6,—p t John 5. 7, 9 G Deut. 6. 4. 
-t 1 Cor. 1, 21. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 8] 


could not furnish a rational idea of him. 
“Professing themselves to be wise, they be- 
came fools, and changed the glory of the 
incorruptible God into an image made like tc 
corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed 
beasts, and creeping things.”s 

How then should I love and search that 
blessed book, which tells me what my God is, 
and how he has acted towards me! There I 
read, that “God the Father hath blessed us 
with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, 
in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in 
him before the foundation of the world, that 
we should be holy and without blame before 
him in love”’t—that “the Word was made 
flesh, and dwelt among us”*—that he “re- 
deemed us from the curse of the law, being 
- made a curse for us’’—that we “are washed, 
and sanctified, and justified, in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” 
How should I bless him who hath given me, 
a poor, ignorant, deluded, guilty sinner, “ the 
riches of the full assurance of understanding, 


s Rom. 1. 22, 23.-—-t Ephes. 1. 3, 4.—u John 1. 14._v Gal. 3. 13. 
wil Cor. 4 UJ. 


82 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


to the acknowledgment of the mystery of 
God, even of the Father, and of Christ!* 
And one great end of all scriptural study is, 
so to be acquainted with this blessed God, as 
to ascertain that he loved yow with an ever- 
lasting love, that the Son has justified you by 
his blood, and that the Spirit has renewed you 
in the image of God. The scriptures do not 
conduct us to an airy, metaphysical, speculative 
knowledge of the Deity; but to this one point, 
What is God to me? What has he done for 
me? Is this God my God! 

When this is ascertained, what celestial bliss 
will flow from an acquaintance with his aé¢trz- 
butes! How often do the scriptures introduce 
them as they have been variously displayed 
for the help and deliverance of the Lord’s people, 
to inspire zeal, confidence, love, joy, dependence, 
humility, faith ; those essential requisites to this 
intimacy! Let us meditate on a few of them. 

To be acquainted with his PowER must be 
very advantageous. When God gave Abraham 
this command, “¢ Walk before me, and be thou 


perfect,” he prefaced it with this description of 


x Col’. 2 


ACQUAINTANCE WiTH GOD. 83 


himself, “IT am the Almighty God.”y And 
what an encouragement, to know that the God 
before whom he was walking was El-Shaddai, 
God Almighty, God all-bountiful, God all-suffi- 
cient, as the original imports. And how sweet 
for you, beloved, in weakness, and difficulty, 
and fear, to be acquainted with this attribute of 
your heavenly Father, who spake the world into 
existence out of nothing?—who divided the 
sea, even the Red sea, and made a way for his 
ransomed to pass over*—who delivered David 
out of the paw of the lion and the bear’—who 
shut the mouths of rapacious lions, to save 
Daniel°—who holds the winds in his fist, and 
the waters in the hollow of his hand4—who 
can make a way for your escape from tempta- 
tion, that you may be able to bear it*—whois 
able to keep vou from falling,’ to bruise Satan 
under your feet,’ to preserve you to his heavenly 
kingdom, and to do exceeding abundantly 
above all you can ask or think.! A believing 
view of this attribute in all your trials, will make 
you sing Luther’s psalm in Luther’s spirit: 


y Gen. 17. 1.—z Ps. 33, 9.—a Ps. 78 13.—b 1 Sam. 17. 37.—c Dan, 
6. 20.—d Prov. 30. 4. Isa. 40. 12.—e 1 Cor. 10. 13.-f Jude 24, 
g Rom, 16. 20.—h 2 Tim. 4. 19,—i Eph. 3. 20. 


84 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


“ God is our refuge and strength, a very present 
help in trouble; therefore will not we fear, 
though the earth be removed, and though the 
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”3 

And must not an acquaintance with his Love 
be very precious? “God is love; and he that 
dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in 
him:”* Here you must take up your home, if 
you would have fellowship with God. “ Herein 
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved 
us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for 
our sins.”! The believer may say, He set his 
love upon me, not because I was worthy, but 
because he would love me :™ he commended his 
love towards me, whilst I was yet a sinner; in 
his love, and in his pity, he redeemed me, and 
bare me, and carried me all my days.° Behold 
what manner of love has the Father bestowed 
upon me! upon me! that I should be called a 
child of God !P And he will rest in his love.4 
Though he visit my iniquities with stripes, yet 
his loving-kindness he will not take from me.' 
“ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor 


j Ps. 46.1, 2—k 1 Jchn 4.16.11 John 4. 10.—m Deut. 7. 7, 8. 
n Rom. 5. 8.—0 Isa. 6. 3. 9.—p1 John 3.1.—q Zeph. 3. 17.—r Ps. 8). 33. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH Gop. 85 
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Having 
this persuasion, when friends forsake you, foes 
threaten you, and children disappoint you; this 
love shall be found a house of defence to save 
you, in which you shall sing, 

** His love in times past forbids me to think, 
He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink ; 


Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review 
Confirms his good pleasure to bring me quite through.” 


Israel was reproved for neglecting to take com- 
fort from the extent of God’s wispom. “ Why 
sayest thou, O Jacob, my way is hid from the 
Lord?”* Because it was dark to him, he thought 
it must be dark to his God: but he was taught 
a truth necessary for you intimately to know, to 
preserve you from the same error. ‘‘ There is no 
searching of his understanding.” O how blessed 
will it make your life, to be able to say, All my 
concerns, for time and eternity, are in the hands 
ofmy God, who has abounded to me inall wisdom 
and prudence. He knows my frame, and remem- 


8 Rom, 8. 38, 39.—t Isa. 40. 27, 28. 
II 


86 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


bers that lam dust*—he knows the connexion be 
tween my soul and my body, and how my nervous 
system affects my mental energies—he knows 
the law in my members warring against the law 
of my mind,’—the struggles I have to be free,— 
my longing desires to be conformed to the image 
of Christ,—to have done with sin and the world, 
and to have the wings of a dove, that I might 
fly away, and be at rest.” He knows my family 
cares, my domestic trials, and my bodily suffer- 
ings—he knows how to provide for the father- 
less and the widow—how to dispose of my 
family, and supply my children in future days— 
how to make all things work together for my 
good, and to bring me by a right way to a city 
of habitation. If these thoughts of his wisdom 
are precious to you, you will not hesitate in any 
affliction to say, “I will trust, and not be 
afraid.”* *‘ He will bring the blind by a way that 
they knew not, and lead them in paths that they 
have not known. He will make darkness light 
before them, and crooked things straight. These 
things will he do unto me, and not forsake me.” 
And equal consolation will flow from a know- 


uPs. 103. 14.—v Rom 7. 23.—w Ps. 55. €.—x Isa. 12, 2.—y Isa. 42. 16 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 87 


ledge of his omNIPRESENCE. The soul reposing 
on this attribute may say, Whether I am at 
home or abroad—banished from my Father's 
house, and a captive inastrange family—driven 
to seek my bread in a way I least expected—or 
settled far from the society I love and the house 
of the Lord, yet I carry my God with me. 
No distance can dissolve that union which sub- 
sists between God and my soul through Christ. 
I hear him say, and I believe his word, “I dwell 
in the high and holy place; with him also that 
is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the 
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of 
the contrite ones.” When I hear the village 
bells, but cannot, through affliction, enter the 
sanctuary, and appear before God,? “ it shall 
comfort me to hear him say, “ Iam with thee.” 
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou 
art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they com- 
fort me.”> 

An intimate acquaintance also with his FaITH- 
FULNESS willincrease your confidence in him. 
“With him is no variableness, neither shadow 


Iga. 57. 15.~-a Isa. 41. 10.—b Ps. 23. 4. 


88 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


of turning.” He is God, and cannot lie; his 
promises “are all yea and amen in Christ 
Jesus,” and every promise of spiritual health, 
of deliverance from wrath, of temporal supplies, 
and of guidance to glory, kas been confirmed by 
oath, that we might have strong consolation.® 
O what a rock is this, amidst the fluctuations of 
our own feelings, the vacillation of friends, and 
the variation of circumstances, ‘‘ Thou art the 
same, and thy years shall not fail.” Yea, the 
justice, holiness, righteousness, and goodness of 
God, are all favourable to you, and full of holy 
consolation, if you have come to God through 
his Son. These attributes, may ycu say, are 
mine through Christ, and on my side. Search- 
ing the scriptures, where he is revealed in his 
glory, will increase your faith, and enable you 
to add, ‘* This God is my God for ever and ever, 
hé shall be my guide even unto death,”@ 

A further means of becoming acquainted 
with a person is, 

FREQUENT PRIVATE CONVERSE. 

We must dwell with those whom we would 
thoroughly know. Personal private communion, 


c Jam. 1. 21.--d 2 Cor. 1. 20.—eHeb 6. 18.—f Heb. 1. 12.—g Ps. 48. 14. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 89 


especially if often repeated, will, sooner than any 
other mode, acquaint us with the character of 
another. And ir. seeking acquaintance with 
God, there wili be little disposition to use the 
other methods, unless you are often in company 
with him, This private converse is made up of 
prayer,—meditation,—and_ holy walking with 
God. And let me fora while press these things 
upon you. 

1. Of Prayer. 

There are many who satisfy themselves to 
visit God morning and evening; nay, it can 
hardly be called a visit to God, a mere hurried 
repetition of an oft-repeated prayer, to satisfy 
conscience, but not to commune with God. 
Others esteem it quite enough to pray in some 
strait or difficulty, when no one else can help 
them. “ Lord, in trouble have they visited thee ; 
they poured out a prayer when thy chastening 
was upon them.”*" <« When he slew them, then 
they sought him, they returned and inquired 
early after God.”i Such persons make God 
their refuge, not their choice. He would not 
see their faces, did not necessity drive them to 


h Isa. 26. 16 —-i Ps. 78. 34: 


H 2 


90 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


ask his deliverance. Now, though the Lord 
never turns a deaf ear to prayer, come when it 
will, yet he, who only visits his throne in a sea- 
son of suffermg, and he, who thinks morning 
and evening enough, will find this is not the 
way in which God grants to the soul an intimate 
knowledge of himself. Every new providence, 
every fresh want, every stirring of unlawful 
desire, and every additional mercy, should give 
us new errands to the throne of grace. And he 
will be well acquainted with God, who turns 
them to so good an account. Affiction will sit 
light upon his heart, and peace dwell in his 
bosom, But the communion that God loves, 
and will bless with a large acquaintance with 
himself, is that which arises from love to him : 
a return of Iris love to us; such love as we have 
for a dear friend, which draws us often into his 
presence, not because we have any particular 
message, or want any special favour, but because 
we delight in his society. And thus to come to 
God, when we are not pressed with fears, nor 
posed with doubts, nor vexed with cares, but 
because we love the light of his countenance, 
and finding his favour is life, we cannot 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 9] 


be happy without him; this is the communion 
which God will reward with an extensive know- 
ledge of his character, and an intimate ac- 
quaintance with his own glory. 

Be entreated to cultivate this blessed life ! 
It is not always being on your knees, but having 
the heart spiritually disposed, sitting all the day 
long in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.i He 
commands you to pray always.* He sets his door 
open, and welcomes you as a visitor whenever 
you are disposed to enter. Why are we bashful 
and diffident of our heavenly Father's presence ? 
It is said of the Abarimonites, they could breathe 
no air but tnat of their native country: and 
why are we not breathing the atmosphere of 
heaven, and drawing down the dewy influences 
of grace upon our spirits ?. Why do we not open 
our mouths wide, that he may fill them with 
his goodness, which he has provided for the 
poor; and put ourselves in that situation, where 
his secret may be with us, and he may shew us 
his covenant 2 | 

Such intimate communion with him will give 
us greater boldness in the day of affliction, to 


j Eph. 2. 6.—k Luke 18. 1, 


92 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


cast all our cares upon him, knowing that he 
careth for us. ‘‘ Because thou hast been my 
help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will 
I rejoice.”! Indeed, afflictions are frequently 
sent to wind up our affections to a holy pitch 
of importunity, to bring us the oftener into his 
presence, and to make us stay longer when we 
are there. We complain in prosperity, that we 
have not time to serve and enjoy him as we could 
wish ; and he, in mercy to our souls, gives us 
the time we want, by confining us to our cham- 
ber for a few weeks or months, and disengages 
our thoughts from the world by disappointing 
our favourite schemes. We should not have 
read of Jacob’s spending the whole night in 
prayer, or of his princely spirit and mighty con- 
quest, but for Jacob’s affliction.™ 

If God has not yet manifested himself to you 
as he does to his people, and if the burden of 
guilt and sorrow lies heavy upon your con- 
science, do not despair, beloved. Continue 
knocking, for “ to him that knocketh it shall be 
opened.”" This is the infallible method of 
gaining his friendship. It is obedience to his 


] Ps, 63. 7.—m Gen. 32. 24, 28.—0 Luke 11. 10. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 93 


ewn command. If when he says to you, 
“ Seek ye my face,” your heart says to him, 
“Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”° Ere long it 
shall be your privilege to tell, ‘The Lord hath 
granted me my petition which I desired of him.” 
Therefore if he close the door of his chamber, 
it is not to keep you out, but to teach you to 
knock the louder. If he cover himself with a 
cloud, that your prayer cannot pass through, it 
is only that the vehemence of the breath of 
prayer should dissipate this cloud, and open to 
you the sunshine of his countenance. If he 
seem *o depart the further from you, it is only 
to provoke you to follow him, or to increase your 
importunity for his presence. As the disciples 
at Emmaus, who, as St. Luke reports, when the 
Saviour came thither, and “ made as though he 
would have gone further — constrained him, 
saying, Abide with us.”P And such was his 
conduct to the poor Syrophenician woman. She 
came to him in great family distress, her daugh- 
ter being grievously afflicted with a devil. Her 
manner of address shews how deeply she felt 
her child’s calamity. ‘‘ Have mercy on me, O 


o Ps. 27. 8. —p Luxe 24. 28, 29. 


94 ACQUAINTANCE WITH Gon. 


Lord, thou Son of David:”9 The circumstances 
were such as to induce any compassionate heart 
to afford immediate condolence or help. Here 
is a woman, a mother; a woman in distress, in 
distress about her daughter; one whom no 
one could relieve but himself ; yet he answered 
her not a word. She however continued her 
plea, till the disciples, either in pity for her 
condition, or troubled by her repeated entreaties, 
“came and besought him, saying, Send her 
away, for she crieth after us.” He then con- 
descended to answer her; but the answer was 
apparently more repulsive than his silence, “ I 
am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house 
of Israel.” He raised a fence around the lost 
sheep of Israel, as his fold, but seems to exclude 
her entirely from their privileges. And does 
not this silence her ? No, determined to affect 
his, heart with her destitute condition, if she had 
ne claim to his bounty, she again cried, “ Lord, 
help me.” It is true I am not within the pale 
of thy commission ; I cannot boast of the lineage 
of David; but my misery is great, my situation 
is most afflicting; “Lord, help me.” Appa- 


q Mat. 15, 22 to 28, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 95 


rently unmoved by her entreaties, he repulsed 
her again, by reminding her of her own un- 
worthiness. “It is not meet to take the chil- 
dren’s bread, and cast it to dogs.” Is she not 
offended now ? will she persevere still? Yes, 
and faith is wonderfully ingenious. Like the 
fabled philosopher’s stone, it turns all things into 
gold; it sees love in the heart of Jesus, when 
frowns are in his countenance, and converts the 
greatest difficulties into arguments for relief. 
“Truth, Lord,” said this humbled woman, I 
am as a dog, not entitled to the food, or the 
place of a child, at thy table: yet the dogs 
have a privilege, and that privilege I claim; 
“the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall 
from their master’s table.” O let a crumb 
of mercy fall to me. Now hear the reply of 
Jesus. He could oppose her no longer; the 
end was answered ; and now he softens his voice 
to admiration ; ‘‘O woman, great is thy faith; 
be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” So shall it 
be with you. Let nothing intimidate you. 
“ Clouds and darkness are round about him, 
but righteousness and judgment are the habita- 


96 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


tion of his throne.”* Bear the indignation of 
the Lord, because you have sinned against him ;$ 
but cast not away your confidence, which hath 
great recompense of reward. You deserve his 
frown ; wait for his smile. He smites you, but 
it is for your own advantage ; and who would not 
bear correction from such a hand? When 
Diogenes went to Athens, Antisthenes, the phi- 
losopher, at first refused to admit him into his 
house, and even smote him with a stick to drive 
him away. But Diogenes calmly bore the 
rebuke, and said, “ Strike me Antisthenes; but 
never shall you find a stick sufficiently hard to 
remove me from your presence, while there is 
any information to be gained from your ac- 
quaintance.” This firmness recommended him 
to Antisthenes, and he became his most devoted 
pupil. And the Master whose acquaintance 
you seek, has said, “ Ask, and ye shall receive, 
that your joy may be full.’ 

2. Meditation is another means of maintain- 
ing converse with God, and thereby of increasing 
our acquaintance with him. 

Holy meditation is the musing of the heart 


r Ps. 97. 2.—s8 Mic. 7. 9.—t Heb. 10. 35.—u John 16. 24, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 97 


on spiritual subjects, the soul’s inward converse 
with God: the intellectual eye examining and 
pondering over the excellencies and suitableness *. 
of a covenant God, in all his offices and cha- 
racters, and in reference to all the conditions in 
which the soul can be placed. David improved 
and heightened his acquaintance by this hea- 
venly conference. At day-break, he says, “‘ How 
precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! 
How great is the sum of them! If I should 
count them, they are more in number than the 
sand; when I awake, I am still with thee.’’’ 
Amidst the multiplied cares and troubles of 
government, his thoughts were first with his 
Lord in the morning. He had a room swept 
and garnished, to welcome this blessed friend. 
In the day-time, he says, “My meditation of 
him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord.’ 
Whatever bitters there were in David’s cup, or 
whatever sorrows from his family or his enemies, 
there was an inexpressible sweetness in turning 
his thoughts to a covenant God ; in setting up 
way-marks of his providence, and musing on 
his abiding love. At night, he says, “ My soul 
v Ps. 139. 17, 18.—w Ps. 104. 34, 
1 


o8 ACQUAINTANCE WITIIL Gov. 


shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness ; 
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips ; 
when I remember thee upon my bed, and medi- 
tate on thee in the night-watches.”* God’s ex- 
cellencies were his soul’s food. Meditation 
nourished him when in the wilderness, where he 
could not see the divine power and glory as he 
had seen them in the sanctuary. It not only 
brought necessary food, but a royal feast. It 
procured the richest spiritual dainties, marrow 
and fatness. It made waters break out in the 
wilderness. It spread a table in the midst of his 
enemies, and introduced the Lord as his guest. 
Such were the benefits he derived from this exer- 
cise, that he exhorts you to imitate him; “O 
taste, and see that the Lord is good!”"¥ You 
will not only see the goodness of the Lord, 
but will experimentally know that “ he is 
gracious,” which, like the honey that Jonathan 
tasted, will enlighten your eyes to see his 
glory, and increase your desire to enjoy his 
presence. Thus, by turning his precious pro- 
mises and gracious characters into food, the 
spiritual appetite will be increased and satisfied. 


_x Ps. 63. 5, 6.—y Ps. 34. 8. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 99 


Special seasons of leisure and quietude 
for meditation are of great advantage, and 
ought to be chosen, as “Isaac went out to 
meditate in the field at eventide ;”2 but what 
I principally urge is, that you should so learn 
the heavenly use of earthly things, as to find 
heaven and God in every thing; that your 
business, your work, and your pleasure, should 
be channels in which the streams of this 
acquaintance may perpetually fow. As “ your 
life is hid with Christ in God,”* meditation 
should be your element; that as fish live in the 
water, and birds in the air, their natural and 
appropriate elements, so you should live spi- 
ritually. 

The works of creation, viewed by the eye of 
faith, will be as a telescope through which you 
may see the Creator. The earth in its variety ; 
the sea in its expansion and wonders ; the hea- 
vens in their glories ; the seasons in their order ; 
winter in its severity; spring in its fertility ; 
summer in its beauty; and autumn in its 
abundance; were subjects which afforded Da- 
vid, and will afford you, themes for admira- 


z Gen. 24, 63.—a Col. 3. 3. 


100 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 


tion and praise. But redeeming love was his 
darling subject. His fingers never struck such 
enchanting notes upon his harp, as when it was 
tuned to Messiah’s praise. And what cause is 
there not, for delight in meditating on him who 
has loved you, and given himself for you ? 
When the wife, father, and friends of Tigranes, 
a prince of Armenia, were taken prisoners by 
Cyrus, he came from his home to redeem them ; 

and being asked by Cyrus what ransom he 
would give for his wife, he answered, I will re- 
deem her with my own life. Cyrus, pleased 
with the reply, immediately let her go free. As 
they were returning home, Tigranes asked her 
what she thought of Cyrus. Indeed, said she, 
Idid not look at him, or think about him. 
Whom then did you look upon ? asked her asto- 
nished husband. Whom should I look upon, 
or think of, but him that would have redeemed 
my life with his own? And, O beloved, whom 
should you meditate on, but he that did redeem 
your life with his own? What kind of enter- 
tainment has the world ever given you, worthy 
to draw your thoughts from heavenly joys? Are 
you not a pilgrim and a stranger? How un- 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 101 


seemly then that this world should be the settled 
place of your mind, your habitation to which you 
continually resort! Say with David, from this 
day, “ Return unto thy rest, O my soul ; for the 
Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” 

Do not object that you have no time nor abi- 
lity for this. All you want is an increase of 
love to him, to excite more frequently your 
meditations upon him. How naturally do our 
minds revert to objects we love! How welcome 
are they always to our thoughts! When 
separated from them, we seek a place to weep; 
we retire from company, to write to them; we 
think of their excellencies on our beds and in 
our walks; we dwell upon the delights their 
society and love have afforded, and long for 
the day and hour when we shall meet again. 
And yet we never complain that they occupy 
too much of our time. Have not those mo- 
ments, disconsolate widow, been your sweetest, 
when you could relieve the sadness of 
your situation by looking back on the kind- 
aess, and care, and tenderness of him whose 
body you have committed to the tomb? And 


b Ps. 116 7. 
12 


102 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


has it not alleviated the loss of that beloved 
child, te dwell on the blessed symptoms of 
grace in his heart, his filial love, and the hope 
of meeting him in glory? While these have 
moved your tears, you have tasted a pleasure 
unknown to any but.a mother and a widow. 
Whi are we not so engaged with Christ? Why 
is he like a stranger and a wayfaring man, 
that tarrieth but for a night in our heart, 
which should be his home? Is it not a won- 
der that he gives you permission to love him; 
that he condescends to keep a book of remem- 
brance when you think on his name; that 
he waits to be gracious to you, knocking at 
your door, and asking to come in to sup 
with you; and that he is not ashamed to be 
called your God? O unspeakable love! O 
wonderful compassion! Should not these con- 
siderations awaken your meditations on him 
who thus loves you? ‘He will command his 
loving-kindness in the day-time”¢ for your sake. 
Go forth, my loving-kindness; I commission 
thee to settle, like a dove, upon that fearful, 
humble, broken heart: warm it, expand it, 


¢Ps 42,38. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 103 


soften it, and bring it back on thy wings to 
me. And will not you command your thoughts 
to receive this neavenly messenger, to indulge 
these blessed intimations of the Spirit, and thus 
to ascend to your Father and your God? 

3. Holy walking with God will also increase 
your acquaintance with him. 

By this 1 mean obedience to his precepts, 
and delight in his ways. Walking implies life, 
exertion, perseverance, and progress. These are 
born again, and let their eyes look forward, and 
their eyelids straight before them.° It does not 
consist in a rapturous enjoyment now and then; 
a satisfaction of interest in the covenant of 
grace; or some heavenly meditation once a 
year; but a regular, habitual, persevering 
course of obedience to his commands. There 
must be a disposition first to say, with David, 
“T esteem all thy precepts concerning all 
things to be right, and I hate every false 
way;'¢ and then a conduct corresponding : 
“‘ My soul hath kept thy testimonies, for I love 
them exceedingly.”¢ It will not do to boast 
of attachment to Christ, and to live in the 


¢ Ps, 4. 25—d Ps. 119, 128. 


104 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 


wilful neglect of his known commands; to say 
that his love constrains you to live to him that 
died for you and rose again, and yet to give 
your lusts the reins of government. Your 
soul requires a watchful superintendence, a 
vigorous resisting “unto blood, striving against 
sin,’ a taking heed to your way according to 
God’s word; a constant self-examination to 
see how matters stand between yourself and 
God; for without this, acquaintance will be 
suspended. You know that sin and righteous- 
ness cannot agree. Gcd will not walk with 
you till you come back into his path. The world 
expects consistency with your profession. You 
must have a good report of them that are 
without, that he “that is of the contrary part 
may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say 
of you.” The world will otherwise give you 
no‘credit for that religion which it does not 
see in you. It looks for fruit, where there is talk. 
The eloquence of a blameless life, will more 
effectually plead for you than any arguments 
in favour of Christianity. The eloquence 
of fact is too stubborn to be resisted. « Ye 


e Ps. 119, 167.--£ Heb. 12. 4.--g 1 Tim. 3.7. h Tit. 2. 8 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 105 


are the light of the world. A city that is 
set on a hill cannot be hid.”* Ye are the 
salt of the earth, and should not lose your 
savour! You are a peculiar people, to be 
zealous of good works; a people formed for 
himself, to shew forth his praise;* and you 
are to ‘let your light so shine before men, 
that they, seeing your good works, may glorify 
your Father which is in heaven.”! Abraham 
was the friend of God, and thus he walked ; 
he obeyed God, believed God, kept the charge 
of God, and rejoiced to see the day of Christ. 
How short but comprehensive the character given 
of Enoch ; “he walked with God, and was not, 
for God took him.”™ One observes, ‘ God 
and Enoch were like two familiar friends, whe 
walked in company, without dispute. He was 
so taken up with God, that God took him from 
all acquaintance with man, by translating him 
that he should not taste of death. He was 
before translated from nature to grace, and 
proved so great a proficient in that school, that 
he was translated from grace to glory.’ 


i Matt. 5. 13, 14.—) Tit. 2. 14.--k Isa. 43. 22.—1 Matt. 5. 16.~ 
m Gen. 5. 24. 


106 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


But, above all, remember how the Saviour 
walked, “leaving us an example that you should 
follow his steps.”" Are you a child? Do 
you love your mother? If not, go and learn 
this duty at the cross. The excruciating pains 
of such a death could not make Jesus forget his 
mother. She was a poor woman, and love 
prompted him to leave her in charge of his be- 
loved disciple, who, he knew, would take care 
of her. “Woman,” said he, “behold thy 
son ;” and to John, “ Son, behold thy mother : 
and from that time that disciple took her to 
his own home.’° O children, love your mo- 
thers! I have hardly ever known a child 
Prosper who did not love his parents. Let 
the same humble “ mind be in you which was 
also in Christ Jesus, who being -in the form of 
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God; but made himself of no reputation.” 
Employ your time, and talents, and pre- 
perty, as he did, in healing the broken-hearted, 
visiting the sick, and relieving the father- 
less and widow. Regulate your temper by 
his, “who, when he was reviled reviled not 


n 1 Pet. 1 2i1.—o John 19. 26, 27.—p Phil. 2. 5. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 107 


again ; when he suffered, he threatened not.”4 
In all things set your life, as a watch by the 
dial, in agreement with the Sun of righteous- 
ness, and it shall never be wrong. 

Those who thus honour God, he will honour ; 
they shall not only be walkers, but workers 
together with God: the greatest helpers of his 
cause in the world. 


** No great words of ready talkers, 
No dry doctrines, will suffice; 
Contrite hearts, and upright walkers, 
These are dear in Jesu’s eyes.” 


For, Jesus saith, “ If a man love me, he will keep 
my words;” and what shall be the consequence? 
« My Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him.”* 


q 1 Pet. 2.23.—r John 14. 23. 


108 


CHAPTER V. 


THE BEST SEASON FOR COMMENCING 
ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


“Procrastination is the thief of time.” 
Delays are always dangerous, and in soul 
affairs cruel, and productive of the greatest 
mischief. Yet Satan has not a more powerful 
temptation, to young or old, than procras- 
tination. He persuades us that to-morrow we 
shall be in a better condition, and a happier 
frame, and more decided for God, than to- 
day, and next year than this. Alas! how often 
has he cheated you with a may-be for a cer- 
tainty, and induced you to put off a present sea- 
son, a golden opportunity of profit and advantage, 
for some uncertain and unlikely gain. Be- 
loved, the intention of this blessed advice is 
to move you, by the consideration of the value 
of the present moment, to seek, and to seek 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 109 


immediately, a more intimate acquaintance 
with God, which shall prove fatal to Satan’s 
power over you, and open a source of unspeak- 
able blessedness to your spirit. Take these 
thoughts for your guide. 


CoMMENCE ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD 
NOW, FoR THESE ARE THE VERY BEST 
DAYS FOR THE PURPOSE, YOU WILL EVER 
SEE. 

Youth is the most valuable and suitable time 
for gaining an acquaintance with God. It is 
the very prime of life. Now your memory is 
strong, your health good, your mind vigorous. 
This then is the time when God claims, and 
ought to have, your acquaintance. The morning 
of your days, and the first-born of your strength, 
are surely his, by every tie of duty and of love. 
And at this particular time he urges you to 
begin this acquaintance: “ Remember now thy 
Creator, in the days of thy youth, while the 
evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, 
when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in 
them.”* No time is ours but the present. The 


s Eccles. 12.1 
K 


110 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


future is wisely concealed from our view, that 
we may improve every moment as we have it. 
The scripture, therefore, when speaking of the 
time of mercy, uses but one word, “‘ Now,” or 
its equivalent, ‘“To-day;’ ‘Now is_ the 
accepted time, to-day is the day of salvation.”* 
All its ivvirations are for the present mo- 
ment. ‘ Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, 
To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not 
your hearts." Come, for all things are now 
ready.” Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.” 
Choose. you this day whom you will serve.’* 
All its PRoMisEsS are made for the present, 
as well as for the future. ‘Godliness is pro- 
fitable unto all things, having the promise or 
the life that now zs, and of that which is to 
come.’ The hour cometh, and now zs, when 
the true worshippers shall worship the Father in 
spirit and in truth.? To-day do I declare that 
I will render double unto thee? From this 
day will I bless you.’ That he may establish 
thee to-day for a people to himself, and. that he 
‘may be a God to thee, as he said unto thee.”¢ 

t 2 Cor. 6. 2.—u Heb. 3. 7.—v Luke 14. 17.—w Matt. 21. 28.— 


x Josh 24. 15.—y 1 Tim. 4, 8.—z John 4, 23.~a Zech. 9, 12.—b Hag’ 
g. 19.—e Deut. 29. 13. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. lll 


Its PRAYERS relate to the same period. ‘‘ Give 
us thos day our daily bread.4 Save now, O 
Lord ; I beseech thee, send now prosperity.”® 
And these exhortations and promises are in 
agreement with God’s general conduct to you. 
He daily loadeth you with his benefits; his 
mercies are new every morning and every even- 
ing. They harmonize with the Saviour’s love. 
He spent the morning of his days in redeeming 
you. They accord with your own conduct in 
the world. If you were in extreme want, and 
a person left a note at your house, containing 
a promise to provide largely for you, and invit- 
ing you to his friendship, you would think every 
moment too precious to be lost, until you had 
made his acquaintance. How differently do 
you act for eternity! You know that without 
an acquaintance with the Friend of sinners 
you must be miserable here, and perish eter-. 
nally; and yet the day is put off, as if it were 
of no importance whether you are saved or lost, 
You say, I see no reason for severing myself 
from the world yet: my judgment is not yet 
matured; my opinions are not fixed; it will 


d Mat. 6. 11.—e Ps. 118. 25. 


112 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


be time enough for me by and by. Is not the 
young man told to rejoice in his youth, and 
to let his heart cheer him in the days of his 
youth? Yes; only go on with your quotation: 
‘but know thou, that for all these things God 
will bring thee to judgment.”f Let me 
ask you at what time, if not at present, you 
determine to commence acquaintance with 
God? Can you secure to-morrow as your own? 
Do you hold your life upon a less precarious 
tenure than that friend who fell yesterday by 
apoplexy, or that neighbour who was suddenly 
seized with a spasm and died? Will you defer 
your acquaintance with him till you reach 
your seventieth year; when your eyes grow 
dim, and your limbs tremble, and your taste 
for worldly pleasures is over? that when you 
can no longer enjoy the world, God may have 
. your time? Is this your kindness to your friend ? 
Young man, hearken to the voice of God : 
“Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord... 
that he may bestow upon you a blessing this 
day.”€ And “lest Satan should get an ad- 
vantage over you,” “for I fear, lest as the 


f Eccles, 11. 9.—g iuxod. 32. 29 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 113 


serpent beguiled Eve, so your minds should 
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in 
Christ,» suffer me, my beloved young friends, 
to plead with you for my Master, yea, suffer me 
to urge you immediately to begin an acquaint- 
ance with him. Give no heed to the suggestion 
of the enemy of souls, that you are not fit for 
heavenly society, but may presently overcome 
your sins, and be better qualified. Remem- 
ber, you are not invited to Christ because you 
are fit, but that you may be so; not because 
you are “rich, and increased with goods, and 
have need of nothing,” but because you are 
“‘ wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, 
and naked.” Hear his own words, “ I counsel 
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that 
thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that 
thou mayest be clothed, ... and anoint thine eyes 
with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.i Come 
buy without money and without price.”J 

Dear reader, it is probable you have been the 
burden of your minister’s daily prayers, and the 
hope of his future years. Occasionally, when 
mercies have excited, or terrors alarmed your, 


h 2 Cor, 11.3 -i Rev. 3. 17, 18,—) Isa 55 1. 
K 2 


114 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


feelings, has he indulged the hope that you had 
come to God through Christ; but his hopes 
were visionary. The fear of presumption has 
kept you back. Well, are you willing now to 
become the associate, the friend of God? Do 
you feel your heart melt at the recollection of 
his kindness and forbearance towards you? Let. 
me, then, this moment conduct you to the great 
Intercessor. Give him the hand of your faith, 
and he will introduce you this day to his most 
gracious Majesty. Does your heart say, 


“* Now, Lord, I would be wholly thine, 
And wholly live to thee: 
But may I hope that thou wilt own 
A worthless worm like me 2” 


Take an answer in his own words, and place it 
against all your fears, and sins, and unfitness : 
“I love them that love me, and those that seek 
me early shall find me.”* 

And do not forget, O beloved, that this pro- 
mise is equally applicable to you, who know 
and love God. “ Acquaint now thyself with 


” 


him.” You will never have a better day nor 
hour than the present, for your spiritual improve- 
ment. Do not say, when I have left off busi-: 


k Prov. 8. 17. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 115 


ness—when my family is grown up—when my 
income is increased, and my cares are lessened, 
I will then apply myself to know more of God. 
You know not what a day may bring forth. 
Few men that neglect to improve their acquain- 
tance with God till these times, make much 
progress when they come. And the reason 
is evident. A thousand unknown trials in 
the family, cares of an unexpected kind, 
losses unconnected with business, and, above all, 
a total disrelish for the things of God, may 
accompany this paradise of pleasure and ease 
which you are picturing to yourselves. It is 
very erroneous to suppose that having much 
time on our hands will necessarily bring a devo- 
tional spirit: the contrary is generally the case. 
When persons have little to do, they think any 
time but the present the best; having no en- 
cagements, their meetings with God are defer- 
red, and the consequence is, that many unex- 
pected hinderances arise to prevent their 
retirement, except just before they enter 
their beds, when they are generally much 
fatigued with doing nothing. Whereas a per- 
son fully employed, if he be spiritually minded, 


ee: ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 


will say, I know my engagements will take up 
the greater portion of this day: if I do not 
secure these first moments for God, I shall have 
greater difficulty in retiring hereafter, or it will 
be impossible. If there be a willing mind, op- 
portunities will be found. A man will learn 
to economize his time, to rise a little earlier, 
and form a plan to regulate his household. Is 
not irregularity the cause of your want of time ? 
Tam convinced that by thus redeeming time, 
the old worthies obtained so much leisure for 
communion with God. David was a king, and 
more engaged than you or I, yet he found 
time to walk within his house with a perfect 
heart, and to pray and cry aloud, at evening, at 
morning, and at noon.”! Abraham was a man 
of most extensive business, having three hun- 
dred and eighteen trained servants born in his 
own house, yet he found time to walk before 
God, and to command his household after him.”™ 
Joshua had the command of six hundred 
thousand men, yet he and his house served the 
Lord." You had better lose a little of your 
daily gain than the advantages of acquaintance 


1 Ps. 55. 17.—m Gen, 14, 14. Gen. 18. 19.—n Josh. 24. 15. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 117 


with God. You will reap greater profits even- 
tually from shutting your doors two hours in a 
day against the world, than by suffering the 
world to turn God out of your house. Your 
exalted privilege is to have the enjoyment of 
divine things now; and now to manifest to all 
around, what the grace of God has done for you. 
“There is therefore now no condemnation to 
those which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not 
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” “Now being 
made free from sin, and become servants to 
God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the 
end everlasting life.”P Therefore, now, while 
the world surrounds you with cares, while your 
family fills you with anxiety, and your business 
takes up much, very much, of your time, even 
now carry on this acquaintance with the greater 
vigour ; and you shall benefit both the world and 
your family. Let your face shine with heavenly 
communion, as did Moses’ when he came from 
the mount of God. Let every day be a Sab- 
bath, and every visit to the throne of grace a 
sacrament. ‘Take heed, brethren, lest there 
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in 


© Rom. 8 1.—p Rom. 6. 22. 


ils ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


departing from the living God. But exhort one 
another daily, while it is called To-day ; lest 
any of you be hardened through the deceitful- 
ness of sin. For we are made partakers of 
Christ, if we hold the beginning of our con- 
fidence stedfast unto the end.” 

2. COMMENCE ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD 
NOW, BECAUSE YOUR FORMER LIFE HAS 
BEEN A LIFE OF COMPARATIVE IGNORANCE. 

It may be that you are not ignorant of 
the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, having 
been well educated, by means of  cate- 
chisms and parental admonitions; but has this 
amounted yet to any thing more than theory ? 
Have you ever closed with Christ? Have you 
ever diligently, prayerfully, and earnestly, like 
one who felt its value, sought an interest in and 
communion with this precious Saviour? And 
if this has not taken place, is your religion pre- 
ferable to Balaam’s? who said, “I shall see him, 
but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh.” 
Few had more exalted conceptions of the 
Messiah than he, yet this was the sum of his 
religion, “Let me die the death of the righteous, 


q Heb, 3. 12 to 14.—r Num. 24, 17, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 119 


and let my last end be like his :” not a word is 
said about living the life of the righteous. And 
as he lived, so he died, among the enemies of 
the Lord. And if your religious knowledge 
of Jesus has not produced the practical effect 
of making you desirous of knowing, loving, and 
serving God, am I not justified in saying, that 
to this day it has been alife of ignorance? And 
here I address myself particularly to the children 
of pious parents. What is the reason we so often 
see you, who ought to be treading in the steps of 
godly parents, avoid the path of life, and pass 
it by, and not only neglecting it, but vilifying it? 
Is not this the reason; that, content with know- 
ing the way to heaven, you do not seek the in- 
fluences of the holy Spirit to cause you to walk 
init? You will not come to Jesus, that you 
might have lifet When have you pleaded that 
promise made to your parents: “I will pour 
water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon 
the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon 
thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring : 
and they shall spring up as among the grass, 
as willows by the water courses. One shall 


6 Num, 23, 10, & 31. 8.—t John 5. 40. 


120 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


say, lam the Lord’s; and another shall call 
himself by the name of Jacob; and another 
shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and 
surname himself by the name of Israel ?”" Or 
that covenant declaration, “I will be a God to 
thee, and to thy seed after thee?" These are 
precious promises, in which your parents have 
rejoiced on your behalf. These have com- 
forted their disconsolate hearts, and revived their 
hopes, that their mocking and careless Ishmaels 
might yet, even yet, live before God. And these 
are your promises, yes, your promises, my dear 
young people, which God is willing to fulfil on 
your behalf. And until they are fulfilled, your 
life will be an ignorant life—for « though you 
spake with the tongues of men and of angels, 
and though you had the gift of prophecy, and 
understood all mysteries, and -all knowledge ; 
and though you had all faith, so that you could 
remove mountains; and though you bestowed 
all your goods to feed the poor, and though you 
gave your body to be burned, and had not love 
to God, it would profit you nothing.” O may 
the holy Spirit induce you to cry, “ He is my 


u Isa. 44. 3 to 5.—v Gen. 17. 7.—w 1 Cor. 13. 2, 3. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 121 


God, I will prepare him an habitation, my 
father’s God, and I will exalt him.”* 

This advice is not only urged on those who are 
far from God, but also on you, beloved, who serve 
him. Happy indeed is the people whose God is 
the Lord, however little they know of him ; who 
having escaped the pollutions of the world, 
have fled for refuge to the hope set before them 
in the gospel. But which of you must not say, 
How little do I know of him! How very little 
of my precious time has been given, to gain lar- 
ger measures of his grace, and greater portions 
of his Spirit! How little do I know of his cove- 
nant, his promises, his work, and his love! How 
many, who set out after me, have passed me 
long ago; and know him more, love him more, 
and serve him more, than Ido! From this 
ignorance arise unbelief of his word, murmurings 
at his providence, jealousies of his government, 
hard thoughts of his conduct, carelessness of 
divine communion, and disobedience to his com- 
mands. And is not this the time to begin again ? 
Is it not high time to awake out of sleep, seeing 
that now is our salvation nearer than when we 


x Exod. 15.2. 
L 


122 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


believed ? that now, “when, for the time we 
sught to have been teachers, we need that some 
one teach us, which be the first principles of the 
oracles of God, and are become such as have 
need of milk, and not of strong meat ?”y My 
brethren, these things ought not so to be. Do 
not, like many, be content with merely escaping 
hell. Let not your salvation remain uncertain, 
but “give diligence to make your calling and 
election sure ;”4 to attain the full assurance of 
hope, and to know whom you have believed. 
Set about this work in earnest, encouraging 
your hearts with this assurance, “Then shall 
we know, if we follow on to know the Lord : his 
going forth is prepared as the morning; and he 
shall come unto us as the rain, as the former 
and the latter rain upon the earth.” 

3. COMMENCE ACQUAINTANCE WITH GoD 
NOW, wuHILE you ‘SEE NUMBERS OF PRo- 
FESSING CHRISTIANS DISHONOURING HIM. 

That is the time to be more devoted to our 
friend, when we see others desert him. Many 
young people would turn this into an argument 
for shunning God, because many who profess 


y Heb. 5. 12.--z Pet. 1. 10.—a Hos. 6. 3. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 123 


to be Christians laugh at communion with him, 
and account heavenly meditation and prayer 
fanaticism and folly. “ Shew thyself a man,”? 
said David to Solomon, on his dying bed. How? 
By boasting the superiority of reason; by re- 
jecting revelation ; or by refusing the yoke of 
Christ, and living in the indulgence of unbridled 
passions? Ono! “Keep the charge of the 
Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his 
Statutes, and his commandments, and his judg- 
ments, and his testimonies, that thou mayest 
prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever 
thou turnest thyself.” True courage, and the 
highest reason, are so to live that men can bring 
no greater charge against you than Daniel’s 
enemies did against him: “We shall find no 
occasion agamst Daniel, except we find it 
against him concerning the law of his God.” 
O be not led away with the error of the wicked ! 
It is a truth confirmed by daily experience, of 
which I take you to record this day, that “ the 
wages of sin is death.”4 You have witnessed 
the misery and death which a life of ungodliness 
purchases. I charge you not to forget this; 


b 1 Kings 2. 2, 3.—c Dan. 6. 5.—d Rom. . 21, 28. 


124 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


“The end of these things is death.” Daniel 
charged it as a great crime upon Belshazzar, 
that he forgat the punishment of his father, who 
“was driven from the sons of men; and his 
heart was made like the beasts, and his dwell- 
ing was with the wild asses ; they fed him with 
grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the 
dew of heaven ; till he knew that the most high 
God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he 
appointeth over it whomsoever he will. And 
thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled 
thine heart, though thou knewest all this.” 
And while you see others turning their backs 
upon God, and disdaining his friendship, will ye 
also go away? Will you join league with the 
wicked against him? While he is knocking at 
the door of your heart by the ministry of his 
word, will you bribe conscience to say, you are 
too much engaged, and cannot open to him? 
That be far from you. Acquaint thyself now 
with him, and be at peace. 

And does not this consideration move you, 
believer, to commence a greater intimacy with 
God? See how he is wounded in the house 


d Rom. 6. 21.~—e Dan. 5. 21, 22. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 125 


of his friends!) Demas and Judas, Alexander 
and Diotrephes, still live in the persons of many 
professed disciples. What conformity to the 
world, what indecision of character, what low 
morality, what indulgence of the flesh, what 
stretches of christian liberty, do many display ! 
You say the fear of singularity operates against 
your decision of character. But what dread, 
my beloved, should you feel to be singularly 
good; to have God for your friend; the holy 
angels for your ministering spirits; Christ for 
your Saviour; and heaven for your home ? 
Shall the fear of being accounted singular by 
those whose good opinion is not worth having, 
induce you to suffer Satan to take unmolested 
possession of your soul? Did holy, wise, virtu- 
ous, and heavenly-minded men, ever rank those 
with fools who sought first the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness? Will not the ene- 
mies of God rather envy than blame your sin- 
gularity at the day of judgment? Will it be 
any gratification in hell, to reflect that you 
came there by not being singular; that you 
followed the customs and maxims of great and 
ungodly men, and will have them for your com- 
L 2 


126 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


panions for ever? Will you destroy your soul 
for company’s sake? Is it not dreadful to think, 
that you are bartering away that invaluable 
jewel, for the short-lived applause of your fellow- 
sinners? Like the rulers who “believed on him, 
but because of the Pharisees they did not con- 
fess him, lest they should be put out of the 
synagogue, for they loved the praise of men 
more than the praise of God.’ O think of 
the worth of your precious soul! “For what 
shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole 
world, and lose his own soul?”8 Beloved, seek 
not the praise of men. Dare to be singularly 
good. Regard not the opinion of half-hearted 
professors. In a very little time, it will be of 
small importance to you, whether the world 
hated or loved you. Ask yourselves what 
does the word of God say? and after you 
have discovered his will, abide by it, against 
all the expedients, accommodations, and 
worldly schemes of men. And this is his 
word : “If any man love the world, the love 
of the Father is not in him: the friendship of 
the world is enmity with God.”* Do what 


f John 12. 42, 43.—g Mark 8. 36.—h James 4. 4. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 127 


you may to reconcile them, God and the world 
will never coalesce: balls, theatres, and card 
parties, are utterly irreconcileable with a 
healthy state of mind, and communion with 
God. To be one day in God’s house, and 
another in the theatre; one time drinking the 
cup of salvation, and another the cup of the 
drunkard; this evening filling your mouth with 
the praises of Christ, and to-morrow singing 
the praises of Cupid; now associating with the 
saints, then walking with, and as, the ungodly; 
is putting Christ to an open shame. But does 
not the life of many professors resemble the 
face of a barometer? On its dial-plate are en- 
graved, in legible characters, on one _ side, 
“ For God,” on the other, “For the world :” 
the hand which points to these characters is 
covetousness, and the mercury that moves it 
is temporal interest. If this moving principle 
change the position of this hand to God, God 
they follow; if to the world, the world they 
follow: but its general station is between both. 
Do not therefore listen for a moment to the 
ensnaring plea of many, that you will injure 
the cause by your exactness; that if you will 


128 ACQUAINTANCE WITH Gop. 


concede a little, you may win the ungodly; or 
that by union with such a person you may 
save a soul from death. By going half way 
to meet them, they may take you a long dis- 
tance on their road; but not one inch of your 
path will they tread, till they are made willing in 
the day of God’s power. Be decided for God, 
and they will admire your consistency, while they 
hate your religion. Use all scriptural methods 
for their conversion; but diverge not from the 
straight path of duty, whatever be your temp- 
tations, or threatenings, or persecutions, know- 
ing that ‘if we say we have fellowship with him, 
and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the 
truth: but, if we walk in the light, as he is in 
the light, we have fellowship one with another, 
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleans- 
eth us from all sin.” Have that faith, my 
brethren, which overcomes the world. Live 
in heaven, and you may defy the world, as the 
three children did Nebuchadnezzar: “We are 
not careful to answer thee in this matter; but 
if it be so,” if we are to lose thy favour, and 
the good word of all the world, ‘‘ we know that 


i1 John 1. 7. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 129 


our God is able to deliver us.” | You chose 
him, beloved, as your single inheritance. You 
entered Christ’s service upon these conditions: 
"If any man will be my disciple, let him take 
up his cross daily, and follow me.”* Study then 
not to remove the cross, but to bear it. Let 
it be your glory. Be not ashamed of Christ. 
Be not ashamed of his words. Be not ashamed 
of the testimony of the Lord. Put shame on 
sin, but never let it be appended to the Sa- 
viour’s perfect righteousness and blessed so- 
ciety. Put on therefore, every morning when 
you rise, and wear through every day you live, 
“the whole armour of God, that you may be 
able to stand in the evil day, and, having done 
all, tc stand.! For I heard a voice from heaven 
saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye 
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive 
not of her plagues.”™ 

4, COMMENCE ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD 
NOW, Because NOW ue INVITES you TO 
HIS ACQUAINTANCE, 

Do such thoughts as these arise? Well, if I 
could but be assured that God would welcome 


) Dan, 3. 16, 17.~-k Matt. 16, 24.—1 Eph. 6, 13.—m Rev, 13, 4, 


130 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


me, and had actually given me an invitation, 
then I could approach him without fear; but 
no one knows my sinfulness. O how my guilt 
rises up before my mind! Can God receive 
a creature so unworthy as I am into his friend- 
ship? You may well wonder at such love; 
but you shall see that all the unwillingness to 
divine communion is on your part, not on his. 
Are you a backslider, who has departed from 
his ways in heart, if not in life, and sinned 
both against knowledge and love? Well: he 
would heal the breach this day. He stretches 
out the hand of friendship to you, and in 
accents of love and fidelity says, ‘‘O Israel, 
return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast 
fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, 
and turn unto the Lord; say unto him, Take 
away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, so 
will we render the calves of our lips. I will 
heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, 
for mine anger is turned away from him.”" Are 
you in great darkness of mind, saying, “O that 
I knew where I might find him. I would £0 
even to his seat?”° To you this declaration is 


n Hos. 14.1 to 3.--o Job 23, 3. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GoD. lot 


expressly made: “I know the thoughts that I 
think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not 
of evil, to give you an expected end. Then 
shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and 
pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 
Ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall 
search for me with your whole heart.”P And 
you, my beloved young friend, whose parents 
long to see your heart given up to Christ, and 
are praying day and night for your salvation, 
behold a promise to you full of strong affec- 
tion; read it, and be amazed, ‘ Wherefore 
Come out from among them, and be ye sepa- 
rate, and touch no unclean thing, and I will 
receive you, and will be a father unto you, and 
ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the 
Lord Almighty.”4 And to you, O sinner, 
who have never trodden his paths, nor ever 
courted, but shunned his acquaintance ; to you 
who have had go many mercies, so Many warn- 
ings, and so many narrow escapes from death; 
to you who have made so many vows, the Lord 
saith, “ Come now, and let us reason together ; 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 


P Jer. 29. 11 to 13.—q 2 Cor. 6. 17, 18. 


132 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


white as snow; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool.”* If you still think I have 
not specified your character, take this summary 
invitation : ‘Him that cometh unto me, I will 
in no wise cast out.”* Honour him by believ~ 
ing his word. Set it down in your minds that 
he is faithful, that he means what he says. 
Put him to the test, and you shall know that 
he does not mock you. Belieye not the mer 
of the world, nor your heart, when they tell 
you it is all enthusiasm. O that we could per- 
suade you to make the trial for yourself; for 
there is no reason why you should not acquaint 
yourself now with him, and be at peace, that 
good may come unto you. 


** Retreat beneath his wings, 
And in his grace confide 

This more exalts the King of kings, 
Than all your works beside.” 


r Isn. 1. 18.—s John 6. 97. 


133 


CHAPTER VI. 


ON THR ADVANTAGES OF ACQUAINTANCE 
WITH GOD. 


Tue advantages are suggested by two expres- 
sions, in the passage at the commencement of 
this volume; “‘ Be at peace :” and, “ good shall 
come unto thee.” The first of these may be 
read either as an injunction or a promise. ‘“ Be 
at peace :” that is, lay down the weapons of your 
unlawful warfare, and become friends. You are 
now fighting against God, and can never enjoy 
quietness in such a warfare. ‘The wicked 
are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, 
whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”* “ There 
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked :” 
No sinner can have peace witn God, until 
he embrace Christ, whom God has set upon 
his holy hill of Zion to be “our peace." 
Nor until then can he have any peace in his 


t Isa, 57. 20, 21.—u Eph. 2. 14. 
M 


134 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


conscience, but is continually subject to alarms. 
Though he be actually undisturbed, his rest is a 
false peace, built on a treacherous foundation. 
He may fancy himself secure, yet he is not safe ; 
but is as a man “that lieth down in the midst 
of the sea, or as he that sleepeth upon the 
top of a mast.”” The injunction is, Fall in 
with God’s terms. Cease your opposition to 
his plan of mercy, and be at peace. 

The phrase, however, implies much more. It 
imports that peace is the happy result and 
blessed effect of the course enjoined. Acquaint- 
ance with God, and peace with God, are two 
links in one chain, inseparably connected. You 
cannot possess the one without the other. By 
this acquaintance, then, you shall have, 


1, A DELIGHTFUL FREEDOM FROM THE 
ACCUSATIONS OF CONSCIENCE. 

He who is convinced of his condition by the 
Spirit of God, and sees by the law of God the 
dreadful punishment to which he is exposed 
knows something of the pangs of an accusing 
conscience. 


v Prov. 23, 34. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 134 


How sweet is deliverance from such torment- 
ing fear! How delightful is relief to that 
soul, tossed with tempests, and not comforted, 
over which the billows of the Almighty roll; 
and in which his arrows stick fast, the poison 
whereof drinketh up its spirit. To you, O thou 
afflicted, “‘ Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy 
God, that pleadeth the cause of his people, 
Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the 
cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of 
my fury. Thou shalt no more drink it again!” 
How blessed is that man who feels himself 
released from the law as a covenant of works. 
He walks at large, without his prison fetters. 
He has no longer the sentence of condem- 
nation sounding in his ears, nor the prospect 
of everlasting destruction before his eyes. 
He has within him the earnest of a paradise 
more beautiful, fragrant, and durable, than the 
fabled gardens of Adonis. He reads clearly 
his title to a glorious inheritance, that is incor- 
ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 
reserved in heaven for him. He is no longer 
the King’s prisoner, but the King’s son. He 


w Isa. 51. 22. 


136 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


shall be made fully like him. He shall dwell 
in his palace, sit at his table, and partake of 
his embraces. Surely this is peace indeed. 

And this, my beloved, shall be the advan- 
tage of your growing acquaintance with God. 
You shall see Jesus “ made of God unto you 
wisdom, righteousness, sanetification, and re- 
demption.” You shall see your sins forgiven 
through his blood. You shall see the covenant 
of peace ratified in his death. You shall see 
his perfect and everlasting righteousness se- 
curing your present peace, against the accu- 
sations of Satan, the holiness of the law, and 
the demands of the justice of God; and form- 
ing your entire justification before him. You 
shall see God loving you, and well pleased 
with you through his Son. And what are all 
the wealth, and gaiety, and honours of the 
world, to such inward tranquillity as this? 

The result of acquaintance with God is not 
merely to give you a knowledge of these things, 
but, by being habitually in his presence, to 
maintain the holy savour of them upon your 
heart; whereby your conscience shall be ap- 
peased and cleared, and your mind kepi free 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 137 


from unnecessary alarms. ‘The main thing in 
spiritual life is, to maintain the freshness of 
our deliverance ; to feel as if we were released 
From bondage but yesterday. Thus we shall have 
a lively recollection of our former misery; and 
feel sensible of the obligations under which 
we are laid to him “ who brought us up out of 
the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set 
our feet upon a rock, and established our 
goings; who hath put a new song in our 
mouth, even praise unto our God.”* Reader, 
pass not lightly over this remark, digest the 
truth it contains, act upon it, and it will prove 
the life of your spirituality. By this you will 
discover the difference between those who con- 
stantly walk with God, and those who neglect 
him. There will bea levity and indifference 
where the knowledge of these blessed truths is 
only in the head; like a person talking of the 
happiness of a man whom the king had gra- 
ciously pardoned, but who does not experience 
the joy, love, and gratitude, which affects the 
heart, and flows spontaneously from the lips 
of the recipient of the royal bounty. The 


x Ps. 40, 2, 3. 
mM 2 


138 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


former cannot enter into the happiness of the. 
latter. O it is daily seeing thyself a debtor to 
sovereign grace; and viewing thy bond can- 
celled on the cross, where thy debt, thy whole 
debt, was paid, and paid for ever, that brings 
a holy quietude to the mind. For “ being jus- 
tified by faith, we have peace with God, through 
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we 
have access by faith into this grace wherein 
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory 
of God.’¥ 


Acquaintance with God will give you, 

2. A HOLY SERENITY OF MIND IN THE 
TROUBLES OF LIFE. 

Not that you shall escape trouble, or have 
fewer trials than the ungodly. You are born 
to trouble; it is your birthright through sin. 
Nor will living to God lessen the number of 
your trials, for “many are the afflictions of the 
righteous.” Saints in all ages have found 
this a troublesome world. Their path has 
been strewed with thorns. In their families, re- 
lations, or circumstances, they have been exer- 


y Rom, 5, A; 2-4 Ps. 34. 19. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 139 


cised with things far from pleasant. And God 
may call you, like Job, to part with your chil- 
dren, your property, and your health; he may 
turn your wife and friends against you, and 
leave you desolate and alone. But though 
acquaintance with God does not abridge trou- 
bles, it will quiet your soul under them. 

It will bring good to you, by teaching the 
souRCcE from whence they proceed. 

Faith in his love and care shall enable your 
spirit to ascend through the clouds which hang 
over your concerns on earth, and discover in a 
cloudless sky beyond them, the Lord himself, as 
your friend, sending and overruling them. Un- 
less our minds are taken away from second 
causes, and fixed on the great first Cause, we 
shall know little of peace. We shall blame 
this person, and that circumstance, as the origin 
of our affliction. We shall distract our minds 
with censure and retribution. We shall manifest 
anger, malice, evil-speaking, and discontent ; 
and be busily employed in disentangling our 
feet out of the net, instead of waiting and pray- 
ing for deliverance from heaven. An acquaint- 
ance with him, as our Father, who is in this 


140 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


affliction dealing with us as with sons, will sub- 

due cur minds to the sweetest submission. 
We shall say, The rod is in my Father’s hand, 
and my Father’s name is rove. He loved me 
So as to purpose my salvation, and he gave his 
Son forme. He sends his Spirit to renew my 
nature. He promises me heaven; and shall I 
doubt that he loves me now, though he holds 
a scourge? No: “Whom the Lord loveth 
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom 
he receiveth.”* I know that if he had in- 
tended to destroy me, he would not haye shewn 
me such things as these. All the instruments 
of my sorrow are but the twigs of his rod, what- 
ever their character may be. He now strikes 
with blows so hard, that I feel them at my 
very heart: but he saturates his rod with love ; 
and the harder his strokes, the stronger his 
love. And the same hand that inflicts my 
wounds, brings me health and cure. 

O how will such acquaintance with God hush 
ihe mind to peace! See what effect it produced 
in saints of old time. David, as a father, was | 
greatly afflicted. Absalom, his son, a young 


t Heb, 12, 7.—a Heb. 12. 6—b tonrrs-93, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 141 


ran unequalled in Israel for beauty, and evi- 
dently a favourite with his parent, rebelled 
against him, attempting to deprive him both 
of his throne and his life. When fleeing from 
this ungrateful child, another trouble met him, 
of a most grievous and unexpected kind. A 
venerable man fleeing from an ungodly child 
would excite pity in the bosom of most persons $ 
but Shimei came out, and cursed the broken- 
hearted father, saying, ‘‘ Come out, come out, 
thou bloody man; the Lord hath returned upon 
thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose 
stead thou hast reigned, and the Lord hath de- 
livered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom 
thy son; and behold thou art taken in thy mis- 
chief, because thou art a bloody man. And 
then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said unto the 
king, “ Why should this dead dog curse my 
lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, 
and take off his head.”* Now Abishai looked 
at second causes. He saw only Shimei cursing ; 
he could discover nothing of the counsel, super- 
intendence, and Jove of God, in all this affair, 


c2Sam. 16 5to 9. 


142 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 


and therefore his soul was enraged against the 
offender. But David looked through Shimei to 
his God, who he knew loved him, and was then 
chastisng him, He saw Shimei only as an 
instrument to execute his purpose. This quieted 
his mind, and he replied, “ What have I to do 
with you, ye sonsof Zeruiah? Solet him curse, 
because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse 
David. Who then shall say, Wherefore hast 
thou done so? And David said unto Abishai, 
and to all his servants, Behold my son, which 
came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how 
much more now may this Benjamite do it? 
Let him alone, and let him curse : for the Lord 
hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will 
look upon mine affliction, and that the Lord 
will requite good for his cursing this day.’”4 

’ On another occasion, when with rebukes the 
Lord had chastened him for iniquity, and made 
his beauty to consume away like a moth, how 
did he bear it? “Iwas dumb, I opened not 
my mouth :” why? “because thou didst it.” 
And that cannot be wrong which thou dost; 


d 2 Sam. 16. 10, 11.~e Ps. 39, 9, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 143 


there must be a necessity for it, if thou hast 
done it. *In the same spirit Eli received the 
intelligence of the death of his two sons; these 
two sons were in the ministry, and dignitaries in 
the church ; yet were cut down under the most 
awful circumstances. And what is the language 
of the aged saint? “ It is the Lord; let him do 
what seemeth him good.”* Perhaps few ever 
had such grievous and quickly succeeding cala- 
mities as Job. Wave after wave came rolling 
in upon him, till all that he had was swept 
away; yet he did not utter one revengeful 
word against the Chaldeans and Sabeans, the 
lightning and the wind, which had destroyed 
and taken away his property and family. No: 
he discerns his heavenly Father’s commission in 
their hands. This stays his murmuring, so that 
he worships composedly even when ten chil- 
dren are destroyed, his whole fortune lost, and 
his future prospects blasted ; ‘“‘ Then Job arose, 
and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and 
fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and 
said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, 
and naked shall I return thither : the Lord gave, 


f 1 Sam. 3. 18, 


144 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


and the Lord hath taken away; and blessed be 
the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned 
not, nor charged God foolishly.” He mani- 
fested in the affliction no stoical apathy and 
indifference ; he felt it, and felt it severely ; but 
he was quiet, that he might hear the rod, and 
him that had appointed it. The Lord never 
mtends that we should be insensible to his rod. 
It would cease to be a rod, if we did not feel it. 
This would be to despise the chastening of the 
Lord, and is forbidden as much as fainting under 
it" And therefore the apostle does not censure 
the Hebrew strangers for heaviness through 
manifold temptations, but raises two banks, 
one on either side, namely, the almighty power 
of God, and the electing love of God, that their 
sorrow might softly glide between them, like a 
peaceful and quiet river that never overflows its 
banks: or, in other words, that the love of God, 
by which they were chosen, justified, called, and 
fitted for their inheritance, and the power of 
God, by which they were kept from the destruc- 
tive effects of all their trials, unto salvation, 
were objects in which they should greatly re- 


g Job 1, 21, 22.—h Heb. 12, 5. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 145 


joice, and which might more than counterbalance 
their weightiest sorrows.’ 

Are you now in affliction, and possessing a 
rebellious, murmuring spirit ; thinking that the 
Lord hath dealt hardly with you, in taking 
away the desire of your eyes with a stroke ? 
Beloved, acquaint yourself now with him, and 
you shall have peace, as calm and_tran- 
quil as a summer’s evening. Why should not 
you hearken to him, rather than to the voice of 
a stranger? And this is his voice: obey it, 
and be in subjection to the Father of spirits, 
and live ‘Come, my people, enter thou into 
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: 
hide thyself, as it were for a little moment, 
until the indignation be overpast.”* 

‘Further, Acquaintance with God shall quiet 
your spirits by teaching you the unp for which 
he sends your trials. 

Every affliction has an errand ; and is sent to 
accomplish some special purpose. His general 
designs are to prevent, imbitter, and mortify sin ; 
to quicken, improve, and cherish our graces; 
to make himself glorious in our eyes, by sup- 


i Pet. i. 2. 6,—j Heb. 12, 9.—k Tsa. 26. 40. 
N 


146 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD 


port and deliverance. But it may not always 
be our lot to discover quickly the peculiar rea- 
sons of our trial; it is only necessary to our 
happiness that we should know in general that 
it is for “ our profit, that we might be partakers 
of his holiness.”! He predestinated us to be 
conformed to the image of his Son, and these 
sorrows are parts of his plan to accomplish his 
purpose. O what a soul-quieting consideration 
is this! All my trials God sends to conform me 
to Christ. Folly is bound up in the heart of 
his child; but his rod of correction is to drive 
it out, that I may be more prudent, like my Sa- 
viour! Much pride inhabits my bosom; this 
affliction is to burn it up, that I may be more 
humble, like the Lamb of God! My soul 
cleaves to the dust, and is too much attached 
to earth; but this heavy stroke is to divide me 
from it, and make me more heavenly-minded, 
like Jesus! Now if we can discover that all 
things are thus working together for our good, 
and that the Lord has no end to answer but our 
welfare, we shall never be disposed to murmur. 
We may well leave in such hands the especial 


} Heb. 12. 10. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 147 


reason of all his dispensations, till we arrive 
where he is; for what we know not now, we 
shall know hereafter. The map of his provi- 
dence will be laid before us, and we shall then 
learn why we were led by such apparently 
opposite roads to bring us to a city of habitation. 
The picture of needlework is now looked at on 
the wrong side, and appears all confused; but 
it shall then be turned, and the beauty of the 
colours, the harmony of the parts, and the cor- 
rectness of the design, shall be as conspicuous 
as the roughness and indistinctness were before. 
Remember, therefore, that the only thing you 
want to inspire the peace of God which passeth 
all understanding, which keeps the mind, as in 
a fortress, amidst the storms of life, is acquaint- 
ance with God; that you may know him so 
well in his dispensations, as to justify him in all 
the seemingly contradictory providences with 
which he visits you; or in extreme darkness of 
soul to say, ‘‘O my God, 1 cry in the day- 
time, but thou hearest not, and in the night 
season I am not silent. But thou art holy, O 
thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”"™ As 


m Ps. 22. 2, 3. 


148 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


if he should say, I cannot tell the reason why 
my prayers are not answered, and my soul is 
still in darkness ; nevertheless, I cannot impeach 
his veracity, or his love. He is holy still. 
“Clouds and darkness are round about him, 
but righteousness and judgment are the habi- 
tation of his throne.”® This will dispose you 
calmly to bear his rebukes. Look at his design ; 
and what you cannot comprehend, leave till the 
day when “the trial of your faith, which is 
much more precious than of gold that perisheth, 
though it be tried in the fire, shall be found to 
praise, and honour, and glory, at the appear- 
ance of Jesus Christ.’ 

Acquaintance with God will inspire, 

3. A SWEET SATISFACTION IN THE WHOLE 
OF HIS WILL. 

_ Your condition in life may differ from that of 
many whom you may be disposed occasionally 
to envy. You think, did you possess their oppor- 
tunities, their talents, and their possessions, 
how happy you would be, and what good you 
would effect! But this is the result of carnal 
apprehensions of your Father which is in heaven. 


n Ps, 97, 2.--0 1 Pet. 1.7. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 149 


A greater acquaintance with him would rectify 
this mistake, so fatal to your peace. The elec- 
tion of your state is his prerogative, as well as 
that of your person ; and he has exercised it 
with as great wisdom and love. ‘Should it be 
according to thy mind ?”P If you reflect upon 
your experience, you must say, No, Lord: I 
have seen enough of my own darkness and folly, 
to convince me, that, hadst thou given me the 
desires of my proud, discontented, ignorant 

heart, I must have been ruined. How unrea- 
~ sonable then it is in you, a child, to wish to 
direct your Father! or that you, a servant, 
should aspire to command your Master! And 
are you not often doing this by your conduct ? 
You think it right that God should exalt those 
whom you prefer, and punish those whom you 
dislike. You would rather have had that child 
spared which he chose to take, than all your 
family beside. You think that your afflictions 
are unsuitable ; that you could bear almost any 
trial better than this; any cross than this ; that 
if it were shorter and lighter, it would. bet- 
ter suit your condition and weakness. What 


p Job 34. 33, 


nN 2 


150 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GoD. 


arrogance is it to suppose that we could order 
our affairs better for ourselves, than God does 
for us! What sin and folly are connected with 
such a spirit! And O what misery! The mind 
in such a state is very far from peace. How 
desirable then is acquaintance with God! This 
inspires a sweet satisfaction in his will, and a 
holy contentment with our lot. Practise it, my 
beloved ; use all the means God has put into 
your hands to attain it, and you shall say, ‘ This 
very condition is the best for me. I know his 
loving heart too well to suppose that, if a more 
prosperous state would benefit my soul, make 
me more heavenly-minded, and bring me faster 
to heaven, he would withhold it. Iam content, 
O Lord; quite content. O the sweet peace I 
find, while the emanations of my will are but 
the reflected purposes of my God! Thou lovest 
me. This is my strong hold, and I must, I 
cannot but be satisfied with the will of Love. 
I have wished for more riches, more health, 
more domestic comforts; but, upon reflection, 
what I have is quite good enough for me. I 
am but a pilgrim, and shall not stay here long 5 
and it matters little what my fare is by the 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 151] 


way, if I do but come to my Father’s house in 
peace. Persons on an excursion often say, 
Our lodgings are not quite so comfortable as we 
could wish; but we can easily put up with 
them, as we are to stay only a short time, and 
then we go home. And shall I repine at a few 
troubles, which cross my corrupt inclinations, 
and require some sacrifices, when these are in 
the way to the mansions which Christ is gone 
to prepare for me in heaven? I cannot see, O 
Lord, as thou seest, nor feel as thou dost, or I 
should choose as thou choosest. I have there- 
fore given up my property, my children, my 
servants, and myself, imto thy hand, and 
henceforth would live like a child under a 
father’s care, having all things provided with- 
out my own interference. Lord, not my will, 
but thine be done! I love that good, and per- 
fect, and acceptable will of my God: accept- 
able indeed to me now, because I see it both 
good and perfect. To this end was I born 
again, that I should ‘‘no longer live the rest of 
my time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to 
the will of God.”4 I have but One supremely to 


q 1 Pet. '4.'2 


152 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


serve and love. Freed from all my former lords 
which have had dominion over me, I now make 
mention only of his name, desiring only to 
please him, and obey his will. Command there- 
fore, O Lord, what thou wilt, and take from me 
what thou pleasest; thou hast my heart, and I 
am thine for ever. I am satisfied. 

Do not suppose this to be the reverie of a 
fanciful imagination, or a state unattainable by 
Christians of the present age. It is the direct 
fruit of acquaintance with God. The more fully 
I understand that all my parent commands me 
to perform, or requires me to sacrifice, is sug- 
gested by his love, and will be conducive to 
my advantage, the more I shall feel satisfied 
with his will, and the more cheerfully render 
him obedience. Satisfaction in the will of God 
will also flow from a settled assurance that all 
the things which cross my will, however con- 
trary to the common expectations of men, 
are appointed by infinite wisdom, and directed 
by love, to promote my best interests, and will 
ultimately enrich me with invaluable blessings. 
Now this satisfaction is to be gained no other 
way than by constant intercourse with God. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 153 


It is a life above a worldling. He is filled 
with plans and expedients to rid himself of his 
troubles, while the saint resolves them into 
God’s will, and finds peace. He feels some- 
what like a man who hears the rattling of 
the hail, while he sits within the house ata 
sumptuous feast; he feels secure, and is at 
test. Thus the believer, reposing in God, finds 
peace, even when the storm beats upon his 
estate, his children, and his temporal com- 
forts. Nature indeed will suffer, but faith 
supports; for “he that dwelleth in the 
secret place of the Most High, shall abide 
under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall 
cover him with his feathers, and under his 
wings shall he trust.”" He shall have warmth 
without heat; protection without oppression ; 
rest without labour; ease without care. What 
a blessed condition! And all this is promised 
to those who acquaint themselves with God. 
“Let us labour therefore to enter into that 
test; for he that hath entered into his rest 


hath ceased from his own works, as God did 
from _his.”* 


r Ps. 91. 1,4.~—s Heb. 4. 11, 


154 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GoD. 


Peace, however, is not all we are to expect 
from acquaintance with God, for it is added, 
“good shall come ‘unto thee.” This pro- 
mise implies the communication of every thing 
that can be considered a blessing ; every thing 
that can be esteemed a real good, suitable to 
our condition, and adapted to our happiness. 
The promise assures us good shall come to 
us: come, as a free gift; come to us, from 
acquaintance with God by a direct and 
natural tendency; come to us, and abide with 
us for ever. The promise therefore includes 
several ideas, 


I. TEMPORAL GOOD SHALL COME UNTO 
THEE. 

By this Ido not mean that you shall have 
large possessions. It is not necessary to con- 
stitute our bliss, that we should revel in luxury, 
or be clothed in purple and fine linen, and 
fare sumptuously every day. Wealth and 
poverty unsanctified are both great curses; 
one can hardly tell which is the most produc- 
tive of misery—the murmurings, discontent, and 
theft, generally occasioned by extreme poverty, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD laa 


or the prodigality, profligacy, and penuriousness, 
which often accompany wealth. Therefore Agur 
prayed: “Two things I have required of thee, 
deny me them not before I die; Remove far 
from me vanity and lies: give me_ neither 
poverty nor riches; feed me with food conve- 
nient for me: lest I be full and deny thee, 
and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor 
and steal, and take the name of my God in 
vain.” In both these conditions one thing 
only was the object of dread to his mind: he 
does not fear riches, because he should be 
envied by his neighbour, or encumbered with 
care; nor poverty, because he must work for his 
bread, or be trampled on by the wealthy; but 
lest they should bring him greater temptations 
to sin against God. Agur supposed there was 
nearly as much evil in one state as the other, 
and therefore deprecates both. If wealth and 
earthly prosperity be blessings, on how few of 
the best of men are they bestowed! The greater 
part of God’s people are now, what they were 
formerly, ‘‘a poor and an afflicted people.” 
You may discover the value God sets upon 


t Prov. 30. 7 to 9.—u Zeph. 3, 12. 


146 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


riches by the persons on whom, generally 
speaking, he bestows them: they are empha- 
tically styled by the Psalmist, “the men of the 
world, who have their portion in this life, 
whose belly thou fillest with thy hid trea- 
sures.” “I was envious at the foolish, (says 
Asaph,) when I saw the prosperity of the 
wicked; until I went into the sanctuary of 
God, then understood I their end.”” 

_ Seekest thou the great things of this world 
for thyself? Seek them not; for the good pro- 
mised does not consist in them. But we may 
observe, 

1. Acquaintance with God will stamp all 
your temporal possessions with a blessing. It 
will sanctify them, and make them real bless- 
ings to you. “The curse of the Lord is in 
the house of the wicked.”” He has perhaps 
furniture, and property, and comforts, in greater 
abundance than you; but so long as his heart 
is opposed to God, he has them with a curse. 
“ But he blesseth the habitation of the just.” 
Your domestic enjoyments will come to you 
through the channel of covenant love and faith= 


v Ps. 17. 14. 73.1, 2, 17.—w Proy. 3. 33.” 


ACQUAINTANCE WITII GOD. 157 


fulness; that covenant which he has ordered 
in all things, and made sure: you will see them 
all coming immediately from his hand, and 
recognize the giver in the gift. You will make 
a Jacob’s ladder of them, and ascend by them 
to your Father and your God. 

If you are poor, yea, in the situation of 
Lazarus, it will afford you an unspeakable 
sweetness to look up, and say, “The Lord is 
the portion of mine inheritance, and of my 
cup; thou maintainest my lot.”y I have no 
manors, but he is my inheritance; I have no 
silver cups, or golden tankards, to drink deli- 
cious wines from my cellar, but I drink of the 
rippling brook out of my brown earthen jug, 
and the water is made sweeter to me than wine, 
and the jug ennobled above gold, while I re- 
member “the Lord is the portion of my cup.” 
Yes; “the lines are fallen to me in pleasant 
places ;” though I live in a cottage, I have with 
him “a goodly heritage.”"y And what are 
earthly possessions without this blessing? 
“The blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and 
he addeth no sorrow with it.” I can eat my 


y Ps. 16. 5, 6.—z Prov. 10. 22. 
O 


158 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD 


crumbs of bread, which have fallen from the 
rich man’s table, or which I have earned with 
the sweat of my brow, and feel that, “ Better 
is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great 
treasure, and trouble therewith. Better is a 
dinner of herbs where the love of God is, than 
a stalled ox, and hatred therewith.” 

If you are rich, acquaintance with God will 
teach you to hold all in trust for him; to use 
your ingenuity in making wings to your riches, 
that they may fly into the cottages of the poor, 
the laps of the household of faith, and the huts 
of the heathen, lest the rust should corrupt, and 
the moths eat, and thieves steal them; and so 
you will take away the corroding care of keep- 
ing them, and the distresing fear of losing 
them, and bring the blessing of him that was 
ready to perish upon you. It will fill you 
with the same pity for others, as he who be- 
stowed riches upon you had for your soul. 
You will ask with wonder in his presence 
Lord, why have I found grace in thy sight, 
and why hast thou taken knowledge of me, 
seeing I was a stranger to thee, as well as my 


a Prov, 15. 16, 17. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 159 


poor neighbours; but am distinguished so far 
above them, as to be made an almoner of my 
Lord’s bounty? You will find that there is 
a real luxury in such godlike activity; and 
that it -is, as Jesus said, “more blessed to 
give than to receive.” And as fast as you lay 
out for God, his blessing will bring it back 
again with interest, either in the abounding of 
your temporal possessions, or in inward peace 
and satisfaction. Yes; “all these blessings 
shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if 
thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord 
thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, 
and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed 
shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of 
thy ground and the fruit of thy cattle, the in- 
crease of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 
Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store; 
blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and 
blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out: and 
all the people of the earth shall see that thou 
art called by the name of the Lord.”* O my 
beloved, God will never suffer you to be losers 
by loving and serving him. Though he took 


a Deut. 28. 3, 9. 


160 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


away all that Job had, it was only for a little 
time, and then he gave him twice as much as he 
had before. And if he now take away your sub- 
stance, itis to make you rich towards God, that 
you may know better how to use it when he 
gives it you again. He can turn the heart of 
a miser into a springing well of liberality to- 
wards you, and, if you have need, command 
a widow woman to sustain you; only acquaint 
yourselves with him, and be at peace, and 
good shall come unto you. Whether poor or 
rich, you shall have his blessing. He will 
rejoice oyer you to do you good, with his 
whole heart, and with his whole soul, saying, 
“OQ Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full 
of the blessing of the Lord.”> 

2. Acquaintance with God will bring good 
by proving a check to sin. 

Offences are always more severely felt 
from a friend than from a foe, because the 
Jaws of friendship strictly prohibit all acts but 
those of mutual kindness. David said, “It 
was not an enemy that reproached me; then I 
could have borne it: neither was it he that 


b Deut. 33. 23. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 161 


hated me that did magnify himself against me ; 
then I would have hid myself from him; but it 
was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and 
mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel 
together, and walked unto the house of Ged in 
company.’* And God brings you into acquaint- 
ance with him, that you may fear to offend 
him, by the love which his presence inspires. 
The believer knows that sin is the great barrier 
to the communication of good, and that no 
happiness or blessing can be enjoyed where sin 
is indulged. Sin introduced all our misery 
into the world, and can produce no other fruit. 
This enemy to God and yourself must be 
turned out of your house and your heart, before 
good can come unto you. And what motives 
can better effect this, than love and grati- 
tude? Are you not saying, I was a guilty, 
polluted offender of my God, hurrying on to 
destruction, yet careless of the consequences. 
“The Lord found me in a desert land, in the 
waste howling wilderness; he led me about, he 
instructed me, he kept me as the apple of his 
eye. Asan eagle stirreth up her nest, flutter- 


c Ps. 55. 12 te 34. 
o 2 


162 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


eth over her young, spreadeth abroad her 
wings, taketh them, beareth them on_ her 
wings; so the Lord alone did lead me, and 
there was no strange god with me. He raised 
me as a beggar from the dung-hill, and set me 
among princes, even the princes of his peo- 
ple.”* O how can I sin against him, my best 
friend? He has laid me under such obliga- 
tions to honour him with my body and spirit, 
which are his, that I would rather lose all I 
have than excite his displeasure. 

Dr. Doddridge informs us, that, a poor 
Irish papist was condemned to death for mur- 
der, at Northampton, upon very questionable 
evidence. After strictly examining his case, he 
became convinced of his innocence, and ex- 
erted himself to save his life; but his exertions 
were in vain, the man was executed. “ What 
made the case more affecting to me, (says the 
Doctor,) was, that nothing could be more 
tender than his expressions of gratitude, and 
nothing more cheerful than his hope of deliver- 
ance had been. Among other things, I remem- 


ber he said, ‘Every drop of my blood thanks 


d Deut. 32.10 to 12, Ps. 113. 7,8. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 163 


you, for you have had compassion upon every 
drop of it.” He wished he might, before he 
died, have leave to kneel at the threshold of 
my door to pray for me and mine; which indeed 
he did, on his knees, in the most earnest man- 
ner, as he was taken out to be executed. 
‘You,’ saith he, are my redeemer in one sense, 
(a poor impotent redeemer!) and you have a 
right to me. If I live, I am your property, and 
I will be a faithful subject.’” 

The Doctor’s reflections on this event are the 
application I wish to make of it to you. ‘“ May 
I not learn from it gratitude to him who hath 
redeemed and delivered me? In which, alas! 
how far short do I fall of this poor creature ! 
How eagerly did he receive the news of a re- 
prieve for a few days! How tenderly did he 
express his gratitude; that he should be mine ; 
that I might do what I pleased with him ; that 
I had bought him; he spoke of the delight with 
which he should see and serve me; that he 
would come once a year from one end of the 
kingdom to the other to thank me; and should 
be glad never to go out of my sight! O why 
do not our hearts overflow with such sentiments 


164 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


on an occasion infinitely greater! We were all 
dead men. Execution would soon have been 
done upon us: but Christ has redeemed us to 
God by his blood. We are not merely re- 
prieved, but pardoned; not merely pardoned, but 
adopted. We are made heirs of eternal glory, 
and are brought near its borders. Remember, we 
are not our own, but are bought with a price: 
therefore let us glorify God in our bodies and 
spirits, which are his !” 

Yes, my beloved, acquaintance with God’s 
love in Christ to your soul, will put a powerful 
restraint upon your lusts and passions, your 
tempers and irregular habits. You will not dare 
to sin, because God, your God, is with you. 
Consciously beneath his eye, you cannot waste 
his time, nor squander his property. Your 
habits will be those of a Christian, whose fru- 
gality, temperance, honesty, holiness, will not 
require a microscope to observe them. And 
does not good come to the man who imbibes 
such principles as these ? | 

4, Acquaintance with God will bring good 
by determining the choice of our earthly ac- 
quaintance. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 165 


How many have been ruined by wicked com- 
panions! What dreadful evils have entered 
families by the sad example of some bad asso- 
ciate! But this blessed acquaintance will give 
you a distaste for all society but of those who 
resemble him in whom you delight. The 
saints, the excellent of the earth, will be all 
your delight; the people who are travelling the 
same road, who talk the same language, experi- 
ence the same feelings, hopes, and desires, and ex- 
pect to live with you in the kingdom of your 
Father for ever. Such society will bring good with 
them whenever they visit you. The object of 
their ambition will be, to further your peace and 
salvation, and help you on your way to heaven. 
With this view you will choose your partners 
in life, the tutors for your children, and your 
servants, that all may be of one mind in your 
house. And what good will not result from 
this! Your children will be preserved from 
unscriptural examples; your servants will yield 
to religious discipline ; your own mind will be 
kept from the errors and follies of the multi- 
tude ; andall will walk together “ in the fear ot 
the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy 


166 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


Ghost.”* Who can contemplate a family so 
modelled, a family diligent “ in business, fervent 
im spirit, serving the Lord ;” who in their visits, 
in their dress, in their conversation, in their com- 
panions, have but this end in view, to serve 
and glorify the God of salvation, and make 
haste to heaven; without exclaiming, “ Jehovah- 
shammah,” the Lord is there. What tempo- 
ral happiness must be in such a house! It 
bears a near resemblance to the society of the 
redeemed above. Would you have such a 
family? Acquaint yourself with God, and be 
at peace ; and this good shall come unto you. 

4, Finally, Acquaintance with God will bring 
good by silencing your enemies. 

For “ when a man’s ways please the Lord, 
he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with 
him.? You will be very dear to Jehovah’s heart, 
so that he who toucheth you will touch the 
apple of his eye. The shafts of the wicked 
cannot strike you, without first striking him. It 
is easy for him to restrain the cruel passions of 
your enemies, and this he will do if you love 
and serve him, “ Thou shalt keep them secretly 


© Acts 9. 31.—f Rom. 12. M.—g Ezek. 48. 35.-h Prov. 16 7%. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 167 


in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”" Ba- 
bylon was always an enemy to Sion, but could 
not injure her until she had offended her God ; 
when it was only necessary to loosen the 
cords by which he had restrained her. But no 
enemy was ever potent enough to hurt Sion, 
while she maintained her acquaintance with 
God. Nor, if you live to him and with him, 
shall any one be suffered fully to overthrow 
your temporal happiness, though they may 
interrupt it; For “who is he that will harm 
you, if ye be followers of that which is good 2” 
But if any are permitted to distress you, and 
“ve suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are 
ye: be not afraid of their terror, neither be 
troubled ; for he shall deliver thee in six trou- 
bles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. 
Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue; 
thou shalt be in league with the stones of the 
field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace 
with thee. And thou shalt know that thy taber- 
nacle shall be in peace, and thou shalt visit thy 
habitation, and shalt not sin. Thou shalt come 
to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of 


i Ps, 31. 20.--j 1 Pet. 3. 13, 14. 


168 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, 


corn cometh in in his season. Lo this, we have 
searched it, and so it is; hear it, and know thou 
it for thy good.”* 

By acquaintance with God, 

2. SPIRITUAL GOOD SHALL COME UNTO 
THEE. 

If you are acquainted with him, you are 
already blessed ; you have everlasting life, It 
is not a blessing for which you are to wait till 
you die, you have it already in possession as the 
pledge of your peace with God, and as the con- 
sequence of faith in his Son. The kingdom of 
God is already within you ;' you have the first- 
fruits of the Spirit, the blessed tokens of an 
abundant and enduring harvest. You are now 
in union with Christ, a member of that mystical 
hoedy of which he is the head. You are now in 
the way to glory, and whether the journey be 
long or short, you have the blessed assurance 
that you shall come to Zion with songs and 
everlasting joy." Now, beloved, consider what 
blessed fountains these are, to pour holy streams 
of spiritual and heavenly good into your mind, 
what a reservoir of spiritual knowledge, com- 


k Job 5, 19, 21,°27.—1 Luke 17. 21.—m Isa. 35. 10, 


ACQUAINTANCE WItH GOD. 169 


fort, delight, joy, and peace. Who can be thus 
blessed, and not be happy? What can con- 
stitute bliss on earth, if these do not ? 

One branch of spiritual good to be derived 
from acquaintance with God is, that you will 
delight yourself in the Lord. 

And O what blessedness is this, to choose 
him as the supreme object of affection—to give 
him the throne of our hearts, and to allow no 
rival—to obey his reasonable command, ‘‘ Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine 
heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy strength”"—to be so en- 
grossed with his substantial fulness, that nothing 
in the creature appears worthy to be enjoyed in 
comparison with himself—to suffer the men of 
the world, who have their portion in this life, 
to take, unenvied, the increase of corn, and 
wine, and oil, and to ask no other boon but 
this, “ Lord, lift thou up the light of thy coun- 
tenance upon me”°—to forsake all for him, 
because we find all in him—to have a sanctified 
mind, which, when he calls, “‘ Seek ye my face,” 
shall cheerfully respond, “ Thy face, Lord, will 


n Mat, 22. 37.—o Ps. 4. 6. 
P 


170 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


I seek” P—to deny one’s self wholly, having the 
heart so engaged with him, that this idol is cast 
out, and our will resolved into his—to be at 
rest and quiet in his favour, which is better 
than life, tinding our heaven in the contem 
plation of his love, and our happiness in his 
presence alone: is not this a benefit ? 

Another branch of this spiritual good is, to 
walk with God. 

This is to make him our best companion —to 
take him on all occasions as our guide—to sub- 
mit to no lord but himself, and to obey no laws 
but his—to “yield ourselves unto God, as those 
that are alive from the dead”4—to be upright, 
having our eyes turned heavenward no longer 
to grovel on the earth in search of joy, but, with 
our arm of faith leaning on his everlasting arm, 
to walk with him in the path of regeneration— 
to look for the blessed “ hope which is laid up 
for us in heaven, whereof we have heard before 
in the word of the truth of the gospel”*—to live 
every moment under his eye, as if he were 
walking by our side—to feel all the confidence 
of a child in a father’s society, ‘‘ because he. is 


p Ps. 27.8.—q Rom, 6. 13.--r Col. 1. 5, 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 17] 


at my right hand, I shall not be moved’*—to 
be going forward, moving onwards to the habi- 
tation of his holiness, and he “will confirm us 
anto the end, that we may be blameless in the 
day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

And you shall also have the spiritual Ad of 
dwelling with God. 

“The upright shall dwell in thy presence.”* 
This is to be no longer a stranger or a foreigner, 
but one of his household ;¥ translated out of 
the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of 
God, which is righteousness, and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost.” It is to bea child of 
his family, in whom his own Spirit of adoption 
dwells, whereby you call him Abba, Father. To 
live under his paternal order and discipline; to be 
educated by the Lord himself, to be a king, and a 
priest, unto him for ever; to receive his loving, ten- 
der chastisements; to sit at his bountiful board, 
and satisfy yourself with the plentiful provisions of 
his boundless benevolence. To be heir to all your 
Father’s property, to the fulness of God; and tobe 
a joint-heir with Christ.* To be clothed in therobe 


a Ps. 16. 8.—t 1 Cor. 1.8. -u Ps, 140. 13.—v Eph. . 19.—w Rom, 
14. 17.—x Rom. 8. i. 


£72 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


of righteousness, and the garment of salvation. 
To be ornamented with the graces of his Spirit, 
and be comely through the comeliness which his 
Father puts upon you.y It is to lodge all your 
cares in his bosom, your property and concerns 
in his hands; and you shall find this blessed 
consolation amidst the changes of this transitory 
scene, ‘‘ Nevertheless, I am continually with 
thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand. 
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and 
afterwards receive me to glory.”# 

There is another spiritual good gained by 
acquaintance with God, which must be pressed 
ou your attention. Ii is this: likeness to your 
heavenly Father. 

You were renewed in the image of him that 

created you, in the day of regeneration. And 


~ no age can wear off this likeness, as it often 


does that of children to parents; but as you 
continue and increase in the knowledge of him, 
you will be more and more like him. We 
naturally contract a similarity to the friends with 
whom we associate. We inadvertently, or, if 
we think them worthy of imitation, intentionally, 


y Ezek, 16. 14.—s Ps. 73. 23, 24.—a Col. 3. 10. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 173 


think, speak, and act like them. Thus the 
apostles bore so strong a resemblance to their 
Lord, that the council, who had recently cru- 
cified him, “took knowledge of them, that 
they had been with Jesus.” And your profiting 
will appear unto all by this friendship. Men will 
see his goodness, his mercy, his love, his com- 
passion, and his holiness, reflected by you, and 
will acknowledge that God is in you of a truth. 
All that see you shall confess that you are the 
seed which the Lord hath blessed. For “‘we 
all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the 
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same 
image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit 
of the Lord.”» 

When all that is earthly passes from you in 
the article of death, you will preeminently prove 
the worth of that spiritual good which this hea- 
venly acquaintance has brought you. Then to 
be calm and peaceful; tobe anticipating glory ; 
to be like a child leaving school for his father’s 
house ; to be saying with joy, “I shall behold 
thy face in righteousness°—the time of my de- 
parture is at hand’—I have a desire to depart, 


b 2 Cor, 3. 18.—c Ps. 17. 15.—d 2 Tim. 4. 6 
p 2 


174 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


and to be with Christ, which is far better’°—for 
me to die is gain—O death, where is thy sting? 
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of 
death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law: 
but thanks be to God, which giveth us the vic- 
tory, through our Lord Jesus Christ :’* this, 
this, at that hour, is a good indeed; compared 
with which, the wealth of worlds is poverty. 
Finally, by acquaintance with God, 
ETERNAL GOOD SHALL COME UNTO THEE. 
From one heaven you shall go to another, a 
better, a brighter, a purer; the perfection of 
that in which you have lived on earth. Here, 
your highest bliss was to love and serve your 
Lord ; and there, your love shall be perfected, 
and your service uninterrupted. Lodged in the 
ark, you shall ride out safely every storm of 
life; and when the rain ceases to fall, and the 
winds to roar, this ark shall safely convey you 
to the haven of rest, whence you shall ascend 
to the hill of Zion, the mountain of the Lord’s 
house, the celestial heights of that wealthy 
place. You shall then have done with this 
mortal life. The silver cord, which fastened 


e Phil. i. 21,23 —f 1 Cor. 15. 55, 17. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 175 


the soul to its earthly cage, shall be cut, and 
wings given to it, to fly away and be at rest. 
You shall have done with mortal cares. You 
shall lay aside the incumbrances which impeded 
your progress, as a traveller takes off his heavy 
garments when he finishes his journey. No 
more domestic trouble; no more anxiety about 
the temporal or spiritual interests of your family ; 
no more cares for the church; no more tears 
for the ungodly; such evils cannot exist in that 
peaceful realm. You shal] be interested in 
all that concerns the kingdom of Christ on 
earth, but without vexatious care. You shall 
have done with sin. Your inbred adversary, 
which has interrupted every duty and marred 
every pleasure; which has caused clouds of 
sorrow to gather in your heart, and drop like 
rain from your eyes; which has occasioned 
your heavenly Father’s desertion, and your own 
unfruitfulness ; shall be not only subdued, but 
destroyed. Standing upon the banks of the 
heavenly Canaan, you shall sing the song of 
Moses anew, over sin and all its associates: 
“The enemies which I have seen this day, and 
which have followed me all my life, I shall see 


176 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


them no more for ever.”f “ Hallelujah! Hal- 
lelujah ! Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth.’& 

Then what unutterable joy, and love, and 
wonder, shall fill your redeemed, purified, and 
exalted spirit, when you find yourself in hea- 
ven, that country which you sought, and which 
God had promised you: when you hear the 
ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
sands of thousands, before the throne, pour 
forth their hosannas in celestial harmony, and 
welcome you to the glorious mansions, while 
fresh ardour kindles as they rise to the source 
of your blessedness: ‘“ saying, Blessing, and 
glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and 
honour, and power, and might, be unto our 
God for ever and ever. Amen.” While some, 
who knew you not on earth, shall pause a 
moment to inquire, “ Who is this that is ar- 
rayed in white robes? and whence came he?” 
Your father, and mother, and brethren, and 
sisters, and children, and fellow pilgrims, shall 
say, “This is he who came out of great tribu- 
lation, and has washed his robes, and made 


f Exod. 14. 13.—g Rey. 19. 6.—h Rev. 7. 12 to 17. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 177 


them white in the blood of the Lamb.” And 
all shall unite again in rapturous chorus, 
“Therefore shall he be before the throne of 
God, and serve him day and night in his tem- 
ple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall 
dwell with him. He shall hunger no more, 
neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun 
light on him, nor any heat; for the Lamb 
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed 
him, and shall lead him to living fountains of 
waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from 


his eyes.” But how must 


“* Fis celestial voice 


Make your enraptur’d heart rejoice, 
When you in glory hear him ; 
While you, before the heavenly gate, 

For everlasting entrance wait 
And Jesus, from his throne of state, 


Invites you to come near him! 


Come in, thou blessed, sit by me; 

With mine own life I ransom’d thee 
Come taste my perfect favour: 

Come in, thou happy spirit, come; 

Thon now shalt dwell with me at home: 

Ye blissful mansions, make him reom,— 


For he must stay for ever.” 


178 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


O to hear that voice speak ineffable peace and 
consolation to your soul; to see him as he 
is, whose glory infinitely surpasses all objects 
of nature and of art; to see those dear hands, 
and feet, and head, whose wounds in suffering 
for you will be more brilliant and beautiful in 
your eye than the topaz of Ethiopia; yea, to 
have his glory revealed in you; to be perfectly 
like him, and to reign with him; what a heaven 
will this be! Then your unbounded desires, 
which the whole creation could not limit, shall 
be satisfied with the full fruition of immortal 
love. You shall be refreshed with the emana- 
tions of uncreated life and joy, and shall drink at 
the fountain-head of pleasure. You shall mingle 
with society the most pure, perfect, and lovely 
whose glory is only surpassed by that of 
him that sitteth upon the throne; you shall 
dwell with kindred spirits, in everlasting har- 
mony. Your employment shall combine all 
the excellencies of ease,.delight, and perpe- 
tuity. You will have nothing to do but to 
worship, and shall have ability to worship for 
ever. 


ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 179 


O yes! those sweet words for ever, shall be 
attached to every thing in glory. You shall 
eat of the tree of life; drink of the water of 
life; wear the crown of life; you shall be made 
a pillar in the temple of God, and there shall 
be no more going out.' 

But why do I presume to speak any more of 
the good that shall come unto you by acquaint- 
ance with God? Beloved, you must die to 
know it all. The half has not been told you. 
Till we can speak in the language of glory, 
much must remain untold. 

But be it more than we can conceive, or 
more than has ever been revealed, it shall come 
unto you, if you acquaint yourself with God. 
Neither men nor devils shall be able to prevent 
it. “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and 
they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck 
them out of my hand. My Father which gave 
them me is greater than all, and none is able 
to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”J 
O blessed Jesus! dost thou hold me? Does 
_ thy pierced hand grasp my weak arm? Does 
the Almighty God guard me to the heavenly 


i Rev. 3, 12,—j John 10. 27 to 29, 


180 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 


paradise! Then I defy the combined powers 
of earth and hell: for “I know whom I have 
believed, and am persuaded that thou art able 
to keep that which I have committed to thee 
against that day.”* 

k 2 Tim, 1. 12, 


THE END. 


Hi. Fisher, Son, and P. Jackson, Printers. 


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